A hundred years of missions : or, The story of progress since Carey's beginning

SjS^^jSv^SSSSSS^vSSSsSS^

Moulton Library

Sangor Tiieoli^gloal Seminary J

Presented by

The Louis B. Goodall Memorial
Library

San ford 5 Maine

>

1^cse(x>axschool

Theology
Library

A HUNDRED
YEARS OF MISSIONS

OR

THE STORY OF PROGRESS SINCE
CAREY'S BEGINNING

BY
REV. DELAVAN L. LEONARD

Associate Editor of the " Missionary Review of the World."

Introduction by Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D.

[Printed in the United States.]

NEW YORK

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

LAFAYETTE PLACE

Copyright, 1895, ^y
Funk & Wagnalls Company.

[Registered at Stationers' Hall, London.]

CONTENTS.

oHAPTBR. PAGE.

Preface i

Introduction 3

I. The Christian Idea of Missions ... 5
II. Missions in the Early Centuries ... 12

III. Conversion of Northern and Western

Europe 19

IV. The Non-missionary Centuries ... 27
V. Reformation and Discovery of America 32

VI. Roman Catholic Missions ^6

VII. Preparation for Foreign Missions . . 40
VIII. Protestant Missions Before Carey . . 53

IX. The Carey Epoch 69

X. The Great Missionary Revival ... 81
XL Genesis of Missions in America ... 97
XII. The Phenomenon of Missionary Expan-
sion 126

XIII. Missions in India 142

XIV. Missions in Africa ; Madagascar. . .187
XV. The Islands of the Sea 247

XVI. Turkish Empire; Persia 281

XVII. Chinese Empire; Korea 307

XVIII. Missions in Japan .339

XIX. Missions in Spanish America .... 365

XX. Missions Among the American Indians . 389

XXI. The Land Which Remains to be Pos- 403

SESSED

PREFACE.

This volume is the outcome of a need experimentally
ascertained, and of an evidently increasing demand.
That is, having urgent occasion to investigate matters re-
lating to the beginning and development of modern mis-
sions, it was found impossible to gather the facts required
without a long and laborious search, and so little by lit-
tle the determination arose to fashion what could not be
found. The works of Brown and Choules belong to the
infancy of efforts for the world's evangelization, and
handbooks like Christlieb's, Warneck's and George
Smith's, though of great value, are yet unsatisfactory at
various points. And then, besides, the remarkable
growth in recent years of interest in missions has in-
creased tenfold the number of such as are in eager quest
of information concerning the spread of the Kingdom
of God among the nations. This notable phenomenon
led finally to the conviction that a book like this, com-
prehensive but of moderate size, might prove of valuable
service to not a few.

All along the design has been to tell, not a little about
everything, but rather enough about certain important
and characteristic things pertaining to missionary his-
tory, fields, etc., to make the narrative interesting, and
supply also as much as the average reader would desire.
This limitation will explain why some of the newer work,
or regions where large results have not as yet been
achieved, are left without mention.

I

2 PREFACE.

How vast the area to be covered ! The entire heathen
world, with a multitude of nations, and religions by the
score. Hundreds of societies engaged, and toilers by the
ten thousand. And the instrumentalities employed are
numerous and exceedingly varied. In endeavoring to
compass a task so well-nigh limitless it is enough to hope
for moderate measures of success.

From first to last the Christian youth of the land have
been kept in mind, especially such of these as are con-
nected with the Student Volunteers, Christian Endeavor,
Epworth Leagues, and kindred organizations. The de-
sire is fervent that many a one whose ears have been
opened to hear with solicitude the Macedonian cry will
find in the following chapters somewhat to quicken to
prayer unceasing, to giving systematic and liberal, and
to lifelong toil for the diffusion of the blessed Glad Tid-
ings to the ends of the earth.

Oberlin, Ohio, May 20th, 1895.

INTRODUCTION.

It is sometimes a question how far an introduction
helps the book it introduces. If the author is well known
he needs no such formal entrance into the literary world ;
if he is as yet unfamiliar to a wide circle of readers, his
book itself is his best recommendation.

Dickens used to say that it was an easy thing to
** come out into society, but a difficult thing to prevent
going in again." And so a book or an author that
proves unworthy of the introduction to the public, can
not long float, notwithstanding the outside supports in-
tended to give it buoyancy.

In the case of the author of this volume, introductory
words seem doubly needless, inasmuch as he has for
years earned his right to the public ear. Aside from his
well-known service to Home missions in the superintend-
ence of this work in Utah and surrounding territory for
six years, he has for several years been one of the
editorial staff of The Missio7iary Review of the World ;
and has won his way to the readers, the world over, by
his facile pen, his scholarly research, his high ideals of
service, his accurate historical knowledge, and his
vigorous style.

The outline of thought covered in this ** Hundred
Years of Missions," is unique, and has been followed in
no other book of which we know. There will be found
here a review of the century's work in this and other
lands, which will both instruct and invigorate the reader.

3

4 INTRODUCTION.

It is perhaps to be regretted that the modesty of the au-
thor forbade his embracing in this volume a resume of
his experiences among the Mormons of Salt Lake Valley,
and of the methods which he employed to establish
schools and churches in those western districts over
which he patiently plodded in prosecution of his great
work.

A good book is a seed of the kingdom. May God use
this, as the means of a new harvest of consecrated lives,
and of gifts sanctified by the altar on which they are
laid.

Arthur T. Pierson.

A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

CHAPTER I.

THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF MISSIONS.

It cannot but be well worth while, by way of intro-
duction, to dwell for a moment upon the basis and
scope of the obligation to undertake, and with all faith
and ardor, and in spite of all obstacles, to continue reso-
lute attempts to spread gospel truth and righteousness
even to the ends of the earth. There are two words in
common use, the one derived from the Latin and the
other from the Greek, which have the same meaning,
to send. The first is mission {fnitto) with its various
derivatives. Thus a missile is something sent, as from
the hand, or from a gun, and a missive is a communica-
tion sent — commit, commissioner. The other term is
apostle (apostello) with its derivatives. Hence an apos-
tle, or missionary, in the original sense is one sent, sent
as an ambassador, sent to bear some message, to per-
form some especial service. *' Call " also has the same
idea in effect. In the particular case before us the mission,
the apostleship, the sending, relates of course to publish-
ing everywhere abroad the need and the fact of redemp-
tion through the sacrifice of the Son of God, or to the
founding and building throughout every continent and
island that blessed and glorious kingdom which is
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

5

6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

And the all-important question is, Who are called to be
apostles, missionaries ? Or, Who are sent upon this su-
preme business, are commissioned and commanded to
go ? According to the New Testament conception of
things, that is. Is it the few, or the many ? Certain
ones peculiarly gifted by nature and carefully trained be-
sides, or the small and the great together, the whole
multitude of disciples, in a word, everybody ? We are
accustomed to distinguish men by classes and occupa-
tions, and division of labor in our day more than in any
former time is the law of civilized life. And we say
properly, To every man his work. Let the shoemaker
stick to his last. Is there anything corresponding to
this in the great matter of announcing to all men the
glad tidings ?

Certainly, with the Gospels and the Epistles as our
guide, but one reply is possible. All are missionaries,
every one of every age, class, and condition ; all without
exception, and all equally. The obligation (or better,
call it privilege) is universal, being inherent in our call-
ing as Christians, the followers of the Lord Jesus. To
be missionaries, apostles, witnesses, heralds, ambassa-
dors, is our chief business on earth : for this were we
made, and for this were we saved, renewed. Every
soul is sent on a mission which is life-long, and to the
whole world. Or, all are drafted into the Lord's army
— rather are expected to volunteer — for the tremendous
campaign to vanquish sin and to rescue the race. There
is no commutation for money, nor are substitutes al-
lowed. Thus enlisted, under orders and drill, it is for
each one to be able, and always ready and eager, to
endure hardness and make the largest achievements.
Of course not all go to foreign lands any more than al)

THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF MISSIONS. ^

enter the pulpit. As somebody well expresses the fact :
**It is only some who are called to the heathen, but
all are called for the heathen." The divine Captain as-
signs to service as he will ; it is ours only with alacrity to
obey. Some do duty as home guards, some in the field
and at the front. Scouts are required and skirmishers.
There is the indispensable infantry arm, and the cav-
alry, and the artillery, the engineer corps, and the hos-
pital detail. Three sisters dwelt in Edinburgh who said :
" All of us should not stay at home. One of us can go
to the foreign field, and the two remaining will support
her." A teacher in one of the public schools of Scot-
land receives a salary of ^i,ooo, lives upon half, and with
the other half maintains a missionary in China. It mat-
ters not what, or where, so long as the same evangelistic
spirit bears sway. All are equally in the service, are true
missionaries of the cross, and will share equally in the
blessed day of reward.

The Moravian Church, as no other since the days of
the apostles, has caught this New Testament conception
of things and from first to last has held it steadfastly.
The entire membership constitutes an organized mission-
ary body. It lives only to establish and maintain evan-
gelistic undertakings in the lands of darkness. It has
no other errand so important upon earth. As Bishop
Levering admirably explains : " Whenever men or
women unite with us in church fellowship we endeavor
to make them feel that they are entering a great mission-
ary society." A wonderfully large proportion of the
members are actually toiling upon pagan soil. But
what is even more to the purpose, those who remain at
home by no means count themselves free from responsi-
bility, and at liberty to look on without concern and

8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

be at ease ; but hold themselves subject to call, and by
warm sympathy, by prayer constant and fervent, as well
as by gifts of money which cost no slight self-denial,
lend inspiration and courage to the sorely burdened toil-
ers at the front, and hence effectually help forward the
work. And, unaccountably, the Mormons, whose name
not unjustly has become a synonym for divers moral
abominations, from the beginning have possessed some-
thing of the same idea of the general duty and privil-
ege, and it is in this marked feature of their church
polity that much of the secret of the phenomenal growth
and endurance of the Latter-day organization is to be
found. Every young man is trained to fitness for mis-
sionary service, and when appointed by the authorities
is expected to go no matter where, to lands near or
remote, and wholly at his own charges, in reaching the
field designated, in supporting himself while engaged in
seeking candidates for baptism, nor less in returning
when permission has been granted.

In Carey's phrase : *' Over yonder in India is a gold
mine ; I will descend and dig, but you at home must
hold the ropes." And something such of deep solici-
tude and hungering desire for the world's redemption as
Carey had, belongs to every disciple. Carey of whom his
sister says, that from the date of his conversion she
never heard him pray without putting up a petition for
the ** poor slaves and the perishing heathen." And
further, that more than once she had seen him standing
in his garden with face long upturned and gazing into
vacancy, wholly lost to his surroundings as he con-
templated the woful condition of the millions without
knowledge of a Saviour. And if the principle thus laid
down as the only one able to pass muster as truly

THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF MISSIONS. 9

Christian, applies to the multitude, to the rank and file
of the children of God, how much more to the elect ones
who stand as leaders, teachers, and exemplars to the
body of believers ! The minister of the gospel who is
not a true missionary in spirit, in aim and in daily en-
deavor, has certainly mistaken his calling and is where
he does not belong. At a most vital point such an one
is unfit for the sacred office and a hinderer of the
work.

This then is the conclusion : Every minister, and
every member, in every church, is an apostle, a mis-
sionary, and as such is in duty bound to go into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. And
that solemn command signifies for substance at least as
much as this : Learn to pray continually and meaning
what we say. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on
earth, since, as Carey so pertinently suggested to his
brethren — who for years had been assembling at
stated times to supplicate for the universal spread of
Christianity, though with folded hands — " to pray while
attempting nothing is but mockery and hypocrisy.'*
And that tremendous petition includes not merely
** my church," "my beloved denomination," the United
States, Great Britain, the regions where the richly-en-
dowed Anglo-Saxons dwell, or within the bounds of
Christendom, or where civilization bears sway. We are
to be well-informed, deeply interested, full of solicitude
and longing, all aglow with zeal for the entire work of
the gospel, whether in America, Europe, Asia, Africa,
Australia, India, China, Thibet, Patagonia, or the
islands of the sea. Even so extensively are we to seek
to save lost men, and to stir up others to do the same.
Each saint has an undivided interest in the whole stu-

lO A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

pendous task, an interest which is equal to the sum
total of all that lies within the limit of his ability. As
Paul affirmed, *' I am debtor to all."

Exactly so it was that the first disciples of Christ
understood the import of their calling, and accordingly
we find them almost at once, and one and all, with
glowing love and a faith which knew not how to flinch,
engaging in labors most abundant for the diffusion of
the new faith in every direction. This characteristic is
all the more significant because with respect to prosely-
ting, wielding an aggressive force against antagonistic re-
ligions, Judaism was at the antipodes to this, for its spirit
was strangely indifferent and even exclusive. Neverthe-
less, some of the loftiest souls which Palestine produced,
and especially the later prophets, plainly foresaw and fore-
told in language remarkably definite and most inspiring,
a happy time when all barriers between Jew and Gentile
should be thrown down, when idolatry and superstition
should everywhere be destroyed, and Jehovah receive
universal homage. A stone cut out the mountain with-
out hands was to become a great mountain and fill the
whole earth. His dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the river to the ends of the earth. All shall
know me from the least to the greatest.

It is true that when Jesus commenced his ministry,
for a season he appeared to confine his attention ex-
clusively to the chosen people. Thus to the Syro-
Phenician woman he declared, I am not sent but unto the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. And sending out the
Twelve on a tour of evangelization he commanded,
'* Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city
of the Samaritans enter ye not." But all this was ex-
ceptional, and provisional. And over against it, as the

THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF MISSIONS. II

substance of his teaching, the marrow of the gospel is
this : *' God so loved the world. And I, if I be lifted
up, will draw all men unto me.'* The look of the Lord
Jesus is world-wide, the horizon is at the ends of the
earth. His parting command to his disciples is most
explicit. He had already affirmed, ** This gospel must
first be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all
nations." And now the bidding is, *' Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Ye
shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all
Judea, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."

CHAPTER II.

MISSIONS IN THE EARLY CENTURIES.

It was with such commands and promises sounding in
their ears, that the Master left the little company of
faithful ones which he had gathered, and ascended to
the skies. These were the marching orders, this was the
mission on which they were sent. And though for
months, and even years, they little apprehended the
prodigious length, and breadth, and height, and depth
of its import — for the vast Roman Empire constituted
but an insignificant fraction of "the world," and
fifteen centuries were destined to pass before the western
half would be made known — they set out in dead earnest
to obey. At least when at Pentecost the Spirit of power
had been shed upon them from on high, and the tran-
scendent results to follow were foreshadowed in the
marvelous gift of tongues, and the various nations (not
less than fifteen, and coming from three continents),
through their representatives then gathered providentially
in Jerusalem, and in order first to share, and afterwards
to diffuse, north, south, east and west the heavenly en-
duement. Apparently months elapsed without any dis-
position arising to journey far from the vicinity of the
temple to tell of the crucified and risen One, and
divine compulsion was required to thrust these evan-
gelists out into a broader sphere of activity. By the
sharp persecution which followed the death of Stephen
** they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions

12

MISSIONS IN THE EARLY CENTURIES. 1 3

of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles," and they
who were thus expelled '* went everywhere preaching
the word." Among the rest, to the Samaritans, and a
notable ingathering ensued. Then Philip under a
special commission went southward on the road to
Egypt, met the Ethiopian eunuch and revealed to him
the way of life, and thus perhaps the gospel was carried
to the distant region of the upper Nile or beyond.
Next, constrained by a heavenly vision, Peter took a
daring step, and made an innovation which to many
was startling and shocking. For salvation was offered
to Cornelius, an out-and-out Gentile, resident in Caesarea,
a city almost wholly Roman, and standing upon the
coast of the Mediterranean, the sea destined to play such
an important part in the future history of Christianity.
And a little later still we hear of the advent of the new
faith into Antioch, some three hundred miles to the
north of its birthplace, that stirring and magnificent,
but most vile metropolis of Syria, and wholly under the
sway of heathen ideas and practises. Here also many
were found ready to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus.
The city soon became an illustrious center for evangel-
istic movements, and for centuries was a rival to Alex-
andria, Constantinople, and to Rome herself for Chris-
tian learning and ecclesiastical influence.

But now missionary operations are to enter upon an-
other and most momentous phase of development.
The conversion of Paul had occurred some years be-
fore, his high calling as apostle to the Gentiles had
been announced and accepted, and he was ready and
waiting to begin his stirring and memorable career.
And how impressive is the language which tells how he
was inducted into his life work. As *' certain prophets

14 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

and teachers" in Antioch "ministered to the Lord,
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, " Separate me Barnabas
and Saul for the work vvhereunto I have called them."
An ordination service followed, and then they sailed for
Cyprus on a tour of evangelization, passed through the
entire length of the island, and then crossed northward
to Asia Minor visiting various important centers of popu-
lation. After returning to Antioch to report to the
church the incidents and results of this venture for
Christ, by far the most extended and systematic which
had yet been made, a second missionary journey of
much greater length was taken the year following, at
first through the same portions of eastern Asia Minor to
revisit the churches they had formed, and then mysteri-
ously led, almost driven, westward towards the ^gean.
About twenty years had passed since Pentecost, and
down to this date to only a little corner of a single
continent had the heavenly message been imparted.
But now was to be witnessed a significant enlargement,
and Europe also was to share the unspeakable gift of God.
Here again it was not mere human desire and planning
which directed, but direct divine impulse and guidance
were vouchsafed. The words are among the weightiest to
be found in the Scriptures. ** Now when they had gone
throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, and were
forbidden to preach the word in Asia, after they were
come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia ; but
the Spirit suffered them not. And they, passing by
Mysia, came down to Troas." Like the Hebrews at the
Red Sea, they were hedged in upon the right hand and
the left, and were also impelled from behind, and next
they were to be beckoned forward. So how completely
was the path marked out by the finger of Him who had

MISSIONS IN THE EARLY CENTURIES. 1 5

promised, " Lo, I am with you alway," *' And a vision
appeared to Paul in the night ; There stood a man of
Macedonia and prayed him, saying. Come over and help
us." What a universe of meaning that cry contained.
In it, coupled with Paul's prompt response, was involved
the redemption of Europe ; through Europe the redemp-
tion also of America, and through Europe and America
together the redemption of all the continents and islands
upon the face of the globe ! ' ' And after that he had
seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into
Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
us to preach the gospel unto them." Taking ship they
cross '*in a straight course" to Neapolis, and journey
thence, preaching as they go, to Philippi, to Thessa-
lonica, to Athens, to Corinth. Finally the master-mis-
sionary appears in Rome, the metropolis of the world,
though going thither as a prisoner in chains. As some
hold, Spain also from the lips of Paul heard first of
Christ and Him crucified. So far from the place of be-
ginning did the knowledge of salvation penetrate in a
single generation.

The attempt will not be made to follow in detail the
spread of Christianity during the early centuries. Suf-
fice it to say that before two hundred years had passed
the name of Jesus was known and revered in regions as
distant as Arabia and Abyssinia, in Armenia, Persia,
Media, Parthia and Bactria. Also along the whole
southern coast of the Mediterranean, past Carthage to
the Pillars of Hercules. By this time, too, missionaries
had gathered harvests for the gospel in Spain, Gaul
and Britain. Britain and Bactria then constituted the
western and the eastern boundary of the Church. It is
not surprising therefore that we find Origen, who died

1 6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

in 258 A. D., expressing the confident belief thai
Christianity '* by its inherent power, and without help
of miracle, would supplant the religion of the heathen."
It is estimated that the number of Christians was not
far from 500,000 at the end of the first century, had in-
creased to 2,000,000 by the close of the second cen-
tury, and to 5,000,000 after another hundred years.
Some authorities give 10,000,000 as the not improbable
figure for 325 A. D., which would amount to nearly
one-tenth of the population of the Roman Empire. For
the most part these striking gains had been made in
the cities, of which those containing churches are
reckoned at 1,800 at this date, 1,000 being located in the
eastern portion of the realm of the Caesars. So few were
the converts gathered from the rural districts that pres-
ently the terms villager, countryman, agriculturist, had
become equivalents for heathen, pagan.

And how came it to pass that such wonders of ad-
vance and conquest were accomplished in so brief a
period ? The explanation lies in part in such sugges-
tions as these : (i) The disciples were as yet in the
fervor of their first love, or the Christian faith was still
in the enthusiasm and vigor of youth. (2) The num-
ber of missionaries engaged was relatively very great. It
was the general business of believers to publish the glad
tidings. Professional missionaries were not numerous,
but the delightful task was taken up voluntarily, spon-
taneously, and by those who in the midst of their daily
toil were evangelists. The gospel was preached exten-
sively and most effectively by merchants, craftsmen,
travelers, sailors, soldiers, even captives and slaves.
(3) Wg must recall the fact that hitherto the victories of
the cross had been won within the limits of the Roman

MISSIONS IN THE EARLY CENTURIES. 1 7

dominion, and hence among civilized peoples ; in lands
unified by subjection to a common law, as well as by the
use of a common language, the Greek. (4) Besides,
the Mediterranean was an all-important aid to evangeli-
zation, situated as it was in the very heart of the em-
pire, with its innumerable bays, and its extensive com-
merce. In connection with this feature of the case is
also to be named the matchless system of military roads
stretching forth from the capital city to all the principal
provinces, and in that day, for facilitating the missionary
movements of Christ's ambassadors, the counterpart of
the railroads and steamships of our time. (5 ) And, a
most impressive providence, over the entire extent of
territory under view, multitudes of Jews were scattered,
made peculiarly accessible to the truth by their language
and training in the Old Testament, and at least in the first
century constituting "the foundation and framework of
the churches, and the bulk of their membership." There
were perhaps some 7,000,000 in all, especially numerous
in northern Africa, Spain, south-eastern Gaul along the
Rhone, and on the Tiber, and numerous also in Armenia,
Parthia, southern Arabia and Abyssinia.

Here, then, was found a population of at least 100,-
000,000, covering an area of at least 2,000,000 square
miles, lying in the temperate zone and about the shores
of a great internal sea. Surely for situation nothing
could be more favorable. It was largely because of
these same facts that Rome conquered so easily, and
retained her dominion so long. ** With the Roman
government to police the world, with highways and har-
bors to facilitate journeys by land and sea, with a uni-
versal language at their command, and with Jewish peo-
ple and prayer-houses distributed all over the empire, the

l8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

apostles went forth to conquer." No wonder then that
by Constantine's day the Christian faith had become so
prevalent in the provinces, from the Euphrates to the
Atlantic, from the German forest to the cataracts of the
Nile, that it was no more than wise statecraft on his part
to grant it full toleration, and for his successors to
adopt it as the religion of state. And thus it had come
to pass in a little more than three hundred years, and
with no weapons but truth and righteousness, loved and
lived, and taught, that the crucified Nazarene had van-
quished Caesar ! By the close of the fourth century
paganism in the empire was practically extinct.

CHAPTER III.

CONVERSION OF WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE.

Before Christianity had supplanted idolatry within
the limits of Roman rule, these capacious bounds had
been crossed at various points by fervid souls in eager
search of trophies for their Master. Armenia was the
first country remote from Palestine to be completely
evangelized. This achievement was accomplished early
in the fourth century, with Gregory the Illuminator as
chief instrument, and a translation of the Scriptures into
the vernacular was supplied to the people. As early as
320 A. D., by Frumentius and others, many flourishing
churches had been planted in Abyssinia. And it was
probably not much later than 350 A. D. that Jesus and
the resurrection were proclaimed in exceedingly distant
southern India. The St. Thomas Christians of the Mal-
abar coast, who were ''discovered" a century since,
trace their descent from that ancient beginning. The
power of the gospel had also been felt by the Goths
dwelling to the north of the Danube, having been intro-
duced by captives taken during a foray in Cappadocia,
and so many were presently baptized, that in 348 A. D.
Ulphilas was sent as bishop to these barbarians, who
constructed for them a written language and translated
into it the Word of God. Then it was that, esteeming
the Gothic saints already sufficiently bloodthirsty and
fond of war, this distinguished apostle felt called upon
for prudence's sake to omit from his version the books

iO A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

of Kings and Chronicles ! The significance of their
conversion appeared later when under Alaric overrun-
ning Italy and capturing Rome, (402-10), and later still
when pouring over the Alps a resistless tide into Gaul
and Spain, (466-88), the Bible was carried with them,
and among various other savage tribes were diffused such
moderate measures of Christian doctrine and virtue as
they themselves possessed.

By the period which we have now reached, a radical
and most vicious innovation had been introduced into
the means and methods employed for the propagation of
the faith. Heralding for Christ, evangelizing, making
proselytes, had come to be a task altogether too lofty and
sacred for the common herd to perform, and therefore it
was committed entirely to the hands of a class, the
clergy to wit, with the monks as prominent coadjutors,
and later was given over mainly to the various religious
orders, like the Franciscans, Benedictines, Jesuits, etc.
It was in 398 that lay preaching was finally forbidden.
Not far from the same time, and as a part of the general
serious departure from the spirituality of the early cen-
turies, church and state went into permanent partner-
ship, and thus politics began to defile and degrade re-
ligion, while kings and armies began to compel an out-
ward acceptance of established doctrinal beliefs and ec-
clesiastical rites. This lamentable apostasy, though in
part the cause, was also the effect, of the heathenizing
and barbarizing process now everywhere going on
through the irruption into all quarters of the empire of
horde after horde of ferocious Goths, Vandals and
Huns. And we find here also the reason why from
henceforth the progress of the kingdom of heaven was
so slow as compared with first centuries. The rank and

CONVERSION OF WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE. 21

file of the Lord's army was kept not in constant cam-
paigning and at the battle front, but on dress parade, or
busy seeking each his own safety, while only the offtcers
were found playing the soldier's part, engaged in the
thick of the fight, inflicting blows and wounds upon the
foe.

As yet only a portion of Europe had been redeemed
from the worship of false gods. For centuries to come,
and by the hundred, and the thousand, missionaries will
be required to push forward into the central regions of
the continent, and to make their way to the furthest
limits upon the west and north and east. The general
course of advance was as follows. Already the Greek
and Roman peoples had accepted the yoke of the gospel,
the next to be subdued were the Celtic tribes, after these
followed the Teutonic races, then the Scandinavians,
and finally the Slavs.

Britain had been Christianized in some degree while
under the sway of Rome, but in the fall of the empire
the legions were withdrawn, the Anglo-Saxons made con-
quest of the bulk of the island, and a lapse into pagan-
ism followed. It was nearly a century and a half after
the famous landing of Hengist and Horsa that Augustine
was sent (596) from Italy to rebuild the walls of the
church. He wrought resolutely and with skill, worthy
helpers and successors carried on the work, but it was
not until King Alfred's day (871-901), or after four
hundred years, that little England could be considered
wholly Christian. Why then should it be thought a
strange and discouraging fact that in giant India, after a
single century of toil, and in giant China whose gates
have been unbarred less than fifty years, there yet re-
maineth very much land to be possessed ? It is to St.

22 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Patrick that the honor belongs of being pioneer and
founder in Ireland. Born in Scotland and taken thence
as a slave, it was in 440 that he began his evangelizing
career, and such were the fervor and energy with which
he labored, that ere long Erin had become the ''Isle of
Saints." That is, it was abundantly stocked with mon-
asteries, and from these for generations and centuries
poured forth a succession of monks in swarms, burning
with ardent desire to make proselytes to the faith in all
the dark places of heathen Europe. In 563 Columba
with twelve like-minded companions crossed over from
Ireland to Scotland, and founded upon lona a monastery
destined long to remain ''a beacon light for Christian-
ity for all of north-western Europe." For four hundred
years after him his spiritual children were known far and
wide '' as representing at once pure gospel teaching and
discipline, sound learning and Christ-like zeal." Little
by little, by influences flowing forth from lona, Scotland
was brought from darkness to light, and England besides
as far south as the Humber. Moreover from that same
island-sanctuary was despatched a host of monks, " an
army of Scots," to invade the Continent, spreading
themselves over Gaul and Germany in particular, bent
on errands of salvation. It happened also that at the
same time missionaries were entering the same regions
from the south, and under an impulse from Rome. The
conversion of Clovis and his Franks (496) was eminently
characteristic of the times. Before a great battle with
another horde of barbarians, and looking anxiously in
all directions for powerful auxiliaries, he made a vow,
that if victorious, he would accept Christian baptism.
His enemies were duly vanquished, his part of the bar-
gain was faithfully kept, and with three thousand war-

CONVERSION OF WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE. 23

riors he received the sacred rite. It was this same royal
neophyte who, hearing a glowing sermon upon the cruci-
fixion, and being much wrought upon thereby, exclaimed
with warmth, generous, if not exactly evangelical, " Had
I been there with my loyal Franks, that most wicked
deed would have been avenged upon the Jews ! "

This was the general mode of procedure in those days.
A monastery was founded in some convenient location,
and was made a center from which the monks issued in
all directions to preach the truth to their pagan neigh-
bors. Thus Columba, the apostle of Gaul, built a cele-
brated one in the fastnesses of the Vosges mountains
which became the parent of several, and his friend Gal-
lus another in Switzerland, later known as St. Gall.
From these, as from scores and hundreds of similar in-
stitutions, light was shed on thousands and millions of
benighted souls. In southern and central Germany
Boniface was the most eminent teacher and organizer,
though by 720 when he entered upon his labors, exten-
sive beginnings had already been made by the Irish evan-
gelists. This gifted and perfervid ecclesiastic is said to
have baptized 100,000 pagans ; he rose to the rank of
archbishop and apostolic vicar, and finally in the midst
of a most remarkable career died a martyr to his zeal,
perishing by heathen hands. As yet the Saxons were
wholly untouched. And the measures employed for the
subjugation of these determined worshipers of false
gods, though in frequent use for centuries before and
after, can scarcely be catalogued as according to New
Testament precedent. Charlemagne was the zealous
leader in the long crusade, and the sword was the ex-
ceedingly efficacious instrument of salvation. After
many campaigns (772-804) and incredible slaughter.

24 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

such of the sturdy tribesmen as survived gave up the
struggle, and by the wholesale were baptized. What is
it but surprising to find that in the Reformation days it
was from these same Saxons, brought into the church by
the dire compulsion of threatened death, that the purer
faith should find many of its stanchest friends !

The Scandinavian nations were next taken in hand,
and one after another, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway
were persuaded to forsake Odin and Thor, and swear al-
legiance to Jesus Christ. Alas, too often by the man-
date of the civil power, and the stress of brute force,
though Ansgar (826-45), a monk of spirit most apos-
tolic, also played a prominent part. From Norway the
gospel was carried to Iceland (1000), and to Greenland
(1126).

And finally redemption came to the Slavs in eastern
Europe. But not from Rome, from Constantinople
rather, and the Greek Church. The famed instruments
were two brothers, Cyrill and Methodius, and 860 is the
date of their advent to the scene of their evangelizing
activity. Methodius was a painter of power, and find-
ing the pagan heart most obdurate, and not easily
reached through the ear alone, he produced on canvas a
picture of the Last Judgment, so realistic, and terrible
withal, that the mighty monarch beholding, was struck
through with terror, and in his trepidation was glad to
submit to baptism, and his subjects followed his example.
A version of the Scriptures helped to deepen the con-
verting work and render it more lasting. Russia was
among the last countries of Europe to turn away from
the worship of heathen divinities, and the momentous
revolution was wrought on this wise. Olga, the grand-
mother of King Vladimir, had embraced the truth some

CONVERSION OF WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE. 25

years before. But as for the monarch himself, he was
emphatically a man of blood, a thorough -going savage
and brute, and among the rest possessed of a super-
abundance of wives. However, for some reason, he
concluded to change his ''religion," and sent out am-
bassadors to investigate the theological tenets and eccle-
siastical forms, in particular, of Judaism, Mohammedan-
ism, the Roman and the Greek churches. The mag-
nificence of the worship prevalent in Constantinople
pleased him most ; and so, combining politics and piety
in an elegant manner, he promised the Eastern emperor
to turn Christian on condition that he would bestow his
sister in marriage ; and strengthened the offer with a
threat of war in case she was refused him. The wed-
ding came off, Vladimir with his twelve sons were bap-
tized in the Dnieper at Kieff, the chief idol was flung
into the same stream, and then the entire population
immersed themselves while Greek priests read the bap-
tismal service from the banks ! This spectacular event
occurred in 983. And who is able to estimate the re-
sults of this '* conversion " so earthy in all its phases?
For so it was that Russia was changed, at least in name
and form, from pagan to Christian, and Siberia also
when it was conquered by Russian arms ; so that in this
strange way something like 100,000,000 were brought
within the pale of Christianity, and not far from one-
fifth of the area of the globe !

Mention should here be made of two other note-
worthy historic incidents which belong to this period.
The Nestorians from Persia were active for centuries in
spreading the gospel (498-1100), and from the very
midst of the deadly Mohammedan foe continued to
evangelize far to the south and east. Little can be told

26 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

of the scope or results of their efforts to make Christ
known, though one monument still survives to demon-
strate that missionaries crossed the tremendous deserts
and mountains of interior Asia, and halted not until the
Chinese Empire had been entered. At Si-ngan-fu an
inscription cut in stone fixes their presence there in 781.
But in the meantime, while the Church had been
making these most substantial gains in various directions,
in other quarters losses almost commensurate had been
suffered. For the Prophet of Mecca had finished his
career (642), and his fanatical followers had carried the
crescent triumphant from the Euphrates to the Straits of
Gibraltar. Palestine was now Mohammedan, and much
of western Asia. Egypt also, and the whole of northern
Africa. In Spain, too, the Moslem had vanquished the
Christian. We can scarcely appreciate the appalling
calamities which befell the Church during three or four
centuries, marked by the repeated and overwhelming
irruptions of the barbarians, and followed so soon by
other centuries of resistless onsets from the Arabs,
Saracens, Mongols, and Turks. The marvel is that
from such boundless confusion and catastrophe Chris-
tianity emerged possessed of any aggressive force, with
life even.

CHAPTER IV.

THE NON-MISSIONARY CENTURIES.

During the thousand years which had elapsed since
the Great Commission was given, the glad tidings had
been carried from Ireland to China, or across two con-
tinents, that is, over one hundred and twenty degrees of
longitude, more than a third of the distance around the
globe ; and from the Arctic regions in Iceland and
Greenland, to the equator in India and Abyssinia. Europe
was now quite thoroughly evangelized. But during the
next five centuries, a period just about half as long, no
further advances were to be made, and instead most
serious losses of territory were to be suffered. The
Christian Church had become semi-barbarized and
semi-paganized as a result of the overthrow of the
ancient civilization by the irruptions of the Teutonic,
Slavic and Tatar hordes, wave upon wave, and by the
baptism on such easy terms of so many millions. A long
term ensued of anarchy and chaos, civil, social and re-
ligious, and of spiritual vigor there was next to none.
And besides, in the east and south Islam had made
terrible encroachments, with others yet in store.
Spain had been invaded by the Moors in 711, and
was destined to remain Mohammedan for nearly eight
hundred years. In 1453 Constantinople was captured,
the Ottoman arms swept all before them to the Adriatic
and the Balkans, while as late as 1529, and again in
1683 Vienna was besieged. In Russia for centuries

27

28 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

(1238-1462) the "Golden Horde" was in possession.
And further east by Tamerlane and his successors, the
Nestorians, long famous for missionary zeal, were so
savagely dealt with and so nearly annihilated, that they
never in any degree recovered their proselyting ardor.
Such were some of the unspeakable calamities which in
long succession befell the kingdom during the Dark
Ages,

During a large portion of the period between the
completion of the conversion of Europe and the out-
burst of the Protestant Reformation, whatever of re-
ligious enthusiasm and zeal and aggressive force Chris-
tendom contained were expended, either within its own
bounds upon heretics and such like, or else upon the
Crusades (1095-1291). These astounding undertakings,
so sublime in some of their aspects, and in others so ab-
surd, may not improperly be counted as missionary in a
sense. The Christian world was now shut in by the
Atlantic on the west, and by Arctic ice on the north,
while Mohammedanism formed an impassable barrier on
the south and east. Therefore if the boundaries were to
be enlarged in any direction, it must be by re-conquer-
ing lands now under the sway of the prophet. For
almost two hundred years popes and princes by the
score devoted themselves to the accomplishment of this
result. And their design, pursued with incredible ardor
and persistence, and looking to the deliverance of the
Holy Sepulcher and Holy Land from alien and accursed
hands, though attended with such appalling expenditure
of treasure and life, and ending in complete failure, in
its results, direct and indirect, was notwithstanding of
immense value to Christianity and civilization.

In the meantime * home missions,''^ of a so' t charac-

THE NON-MISSIONARY CENTURIES. 29

teristic of the times, were not forgotten. In other
words, the civil and ecclesiastical powers that be, were
closely leagued together to annihilate heresy root and
branch. The course of events of this kind was this in
brief outline. The Albigenses were taken in hand for
rigid discipline in 1180-1229. The *' Holy Office,"
which at a later date blossomed out into the Spanish In-
quisition, was instituted in 1229. In 141 5 John Huss
was burned at the stake for his offenses against Rome.
The woes of the Waldenses began in 1475 ^^"^^ were not
over until 1561. From 1482 to 1498 Torquemada was
hot against Moors, Jews and heretical saints, with dun-
geon, rack and flame. In 1498 Savonarola sealed his
testimony to gospel truth and righteousness with his
blood. From 1535 even down to the French Revolu-
tion the Huguenots suffered all manner of sorrows and
pains for conscience's sake, the climax of woe following
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. In
1555, under Bloody Mary, Latimer and Ridley perished
at the stake, and Cranmer the next year. In 1567-98
Philip II. of Spain undertook to punish the heretics of
Holland with the Duke of Alva as his precious instru-
ment. And in 1572 occurred the dreadful massacre of
St. Bartholomew.

In the midst of these days of darkness only one name
appears at all worthy to rank among the fore-runners of
Eliot, and Ziegenbalg, and Carey, and Judson. It is
Raymond LuUy, the portion of whose career that is per-
tinent to these pages is included between 12 71 and 13 15.
In every particular his story is characteristic of the la-
mentable times in which he lived. After a term of
shameless excesses we find him suddenly turning about,
and in a monastery seeking the salvation of his soul. Here

30

A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

he became the susceptible subject of divers visions, by
which he was led to dedicate himself to measureless and
lifelong toil for the conversion of Mohammedans and
heathen. During four and forty years he pursued this
one object, without once turning back, or turning aside.
For assistance in carrying out his schemes, application
was made to one pope after another, and to this sovereign
and that, but for the most part without the least success.
In casting about for measures and methods with which
to further his plans, he hit upon his famous Ars Magtia^
a wonderful logical contrivance, which " by mechanic-
ally presenting all the predicates which could attach to
any subject, was adapted to answer any question on any
topic, and would by the cogency of its inferences neces-
sarily convert the unbeliever, be he Moslem, or be he
pagan." This invention perfected, Lully traveled far
and wide to spread the knowledge of his ** great art,"
and endeavored to secure the founding in England,
France, Spain, and Italy, of universities for teaching
oriental languages and training missionaries. In 1292
he sailed from Genoa for Tunis to apply in person his
irresistible convincing process to the reason and con-
science of the obdurate followers of the man of Mecca.
A challenge was sent out to the scholars to meet him in
high debate, and some impression seems to have been
produced, for presently he was ordered to leave the
country. Some years later making a second attempt to
evangelize in Algiers and Tunis, it was only to be set
upon by a furious mob, from whose hands he escaped
only by the aid of a friendly Arab philosopher. In
1 214, bent on the same sacred errand, he entered the
same region a third time, lived in seclusion for a season,
but then venturing to preach openly against the Koran

THE NON- MISSIONARY CENTURIES. 3 1

and its author, was driven out of the city with stones,
and was so cruelly pelted as to die in a few hours. Lul-
ly's glory lies in this, that he alone of his generation,
and indeed of the centuries just preceding and to fol-
low, appears to have cherished any deep concern for the
spiritual well-being of the great non-Christian world.
And we cannot but love and admire him for his bound-
less devotion and self-sacrifice, though marveling much
that he should have expected to be able to lead sin-cursed
humanity captive to the truth as it is in Jesus with logic
only as a trusted weapon. But such was the wisdom of
the wisest in the days of the hair-splitting schoolmen.
Perhaps the chief value of this pathetic incident in the
history of missions is to be found in the glimpse it af-
fords of the kind of Christianity current through all the
middle ages. The church itself has sore need of re-
demption. Therefore, though perishing in sin, better
let the world wait until error, superstition, and ungodli-
ness are driven forth from the kingdom, until revival,
and restoration to primeval purity and simplicity have
been vouchsafed from above.

CHAPTER V.

THE REFORMATION AND THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

We have now reached the vicinity of two events for
importance seldom surpassed in the history of the race,
which sprung in no small degree from common causes
though so unlike in character at many points, which also
occurred so closely together (1492 and 1517), and in re-
sults were in most intimate and effectual co-operation.
Of course the reference is to the Discovery of America,
and the Protestant Reformation. For centuries the tre-
mendous import of these achievements as touching the
spread of the gospel did not in the least appear, nor even
yet by many is their value fully appreciated. But the
recent Columbus celebrations have greatly helped us to
understand what his immortal deed was worth to hu-
manity. And the meaning will be disclosed, if we en-
deavor to frame a reply to the question. What if his un-
quenchable faith and heroic endeavor had been omit-
ted altogether from this world's occurrences ? Among
other things, the voyage of four hundred years ago was
destined to uncover half the globe to the knowledge of
civilized men, and so to double the possible area of the
kingdom of heaven on earth, and furnish a field for the
advance of the Lord's hosts beyond conception vaster
and more varied than any ever dreamed of by prophets
and apostles. When Vasco da Gama, and Magellan,
and Cook, and a score of others had completed what
Columbus began, **the world " no longer meant merely

3*

REFORMATION AND DISCOVERY OF AMERICA, 33

the Mediterranean Basin, or the Roman Empire, the
paltry spaces peopled by civilized men. Instead of only
one continent entire, and a portion of two others, six
continents were included, besides such land-masses as
New Guinea, New Zealand, Java, Sumatra and Mada-
gascar, and lesser islands by the thousand. Yes, and
the immense bulk of Africa was in due time to be made
accessible from the coast on every side to the very
center. From henceforth to the end of time, the cir-
cumference of the globe, the distance from the equator
to the poles, were to be the limit of **all the world,"
and of '' every creature."

Then as to the part to be performed by the Reforma-
tion. Religion pure and undefiled was to be restored,
its original evangelizing and conquering energy was to
return, together with material auxiliaries to help, in-
creased an hundred-fold. And hence to these new
lands, and to the old ones also, a faith and practise
worth possessing, and worth imparting, might be trans-
ported, a type of Christianity which wore, at least in
some fair measure, the celestial image of its Lord. This
same reformed church was to hold within itself the seeds
of a higher general intelligence than had ever yet been
seen, of freedom also both civil and religious, democracy
included, and so a splendid sphere for the immeasurable
gifts and graces of the masses. Especial mention must
be made of Bible translation among the regenerating
forces of the revolt and revival set on foot by Wyclif,
and Huss, and Luther, and Calvin. Hitherto for the
most part the word of God had been kept hidden in the
dead languages, Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin, and so
was inaccessible to the mass of Christians, who in ad-
dition were unable to read. But to make a bad matter

34 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

worse, the Scriptures had long since been relegated to
the rear as a source of authority and of spiritual life,
while the church, the sacranaents, the priesthood, had
become the all in all for supplying truth and motives to
right action. But from that day forward, at least in
every Protestant country, the Bible was to be found in
the vernacular, and with the timely aid of societies
formed for the express purpose, was to be scattered
broadcast, and to find a place in every home. **The
vernacular Bible became a missionary book, first to
Christendom itself, and after two hundred years to all
mankind." Nowadays a herald of the cross who should
fail to teach his converts to read at the soonest, and to
supply them with the New Testament and the Old,
would universally be held to misread most grievously his
duty and privilege, and to omit an essential element of
permanent gospel work. Zeal which is according to
knowledge is to be sought.

In their larger aspects the Discovery and the Refor-
mation together included the astonishing spread, and
colonization, and dominion, of the virile Anglo-Saxon
race and speech — one of the most impressive phenomena
in the entire range of historic events. The ruling re-
ligious influences of the future were to be not Latin and
Catholic, but Teutonic and Protestant. Great Britain
was providentially chosen to be directly and indirectly
by far the mightiest world-force for civilization and
Christianity. In the New World were first to be tried,
under auspices remarkably favorable, certain novel,
radical and most momentous experiments in civil govern-
ment and ecclesiastical order, which all the world was to
watch with amazement mingled with incredulity, and
then sooner or later to begin to imitate. Among these

REFORMATION AND DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 35

were popular government combined with popular edu-
cation; an intelligent people everywhere in authority,
and the absolute separation of church and state. In the
midst of the Western Hemisphere an immense area had
been held in reserve from the beginning, almost empty
of inhabitants, and waiting to be possessed. Here the
institutions of religion, Christian belief and practise,
should be able to cast off the trammels of a defective
past, the errors and abuses inherited from the ages of
darkness, and enter upon an unprecedented course of
development toward perfection. A Republic should
arise, a nation blessed with numbers, wealth, and ag-
gressive evangelistic zeal, in readiness when the fulness
of times should arrive to become one of the foremost
factors of Christendom in bearing to every continent and
island the teaching which centers in Calvary. And to
aid not only in the redemption of the New World, but
of the Old World also. Already for more than half a
century the striking spectacle has been looked upon, of
missionaries by the score and hundred toiling with heroic
faith and fervor for the restoration of the gospel to Bible
lands, Palestine, Persia, Egypt and the rest, and sent forth
to their mission from a country on the opposite side of
the globe, a country of whose existence Bible saints had
never dreamed ! How altogether wondrous are the
ways of God with his people and kingdom ! And
finally, the triumphs of the printing press, and the rail-
road, and the steamship, and the telegraph, and count-
less other mechanical inventions were to follow, and all
were to unite as messengers from heaven to bear the
name of Jesus to the earth's remotest bounds.

CHAPTER VI.

ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS.

From this date forward evangelizing effort divides
into two streams as to dominant ideas, methods, and re-
sults. For the Christian Church itself by a terrible con-
vulsion had been rent in twain. At first and for several
generations, for reasons most cogent which will be given
in detail further on, missionary activity and gains were
almost wholly upon the side of the Papacy. It is enough
at present to recall the fact that during a long period
after the discovery of America and the doubling of the
Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, with the conse-
quent frequent voyages to the East Indies for trade, the
entire naval power and commercial activity of the world
were in the hands of Catholic Spain and Portugal, and
therefore they alone came into personal contact with
pagan peoples. But besides, the outburst of zeal for
propagandizing now to be briefly mentioned came to
pass as a result of a sharp reaction within the Roman
Catholic church against the rising Reformation. So
much territory had been lost to the Papacy by the stun-
ning spread of Protestant ideas in central, northern, and
western Europe, that something extraordinary must be
done at once to secure elsewhere gains to match. It
was the enthusiasm excited in this counter-reformation
which helped to start a host of daring and venturesome
souls over sea and land to bear into new regions the
glorious cross of Christ. The instruments employed to

36

ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 37

seek subjects for baptism were the members of the vari-
ous religious orders, with the Benedictine, Dominican,
and Franciscan among the chief, composed of monks
without family ties and entanglements, and under solemn
vows of obedience and readiness to endure. All these
were pliant tools in the hands of the church leaders, and
to them was now added (1540), for the express purpose of
exterminating heretics, and toiling for the ''greater glory
of God " (ad 7najorem gloriain Dei), the redoubtable
Society of Jesus, a body military and merciless in its dis-
cipline, its members bound to be absolutely passive under
commands, and to hold themselves ever ready to set
forth at an hour's warning for any clime under the
sun.

And though we can not but deem these missionaries
at many points seriously misguided, and feel com-
pelled to condemn not a few of their doings, neverthe-
less certain of them we must also admire, and reverence,
and regard as brethren in the Lord, because of their evi-
dent sincerity, their limitless courage, devotion and self-
denial, their almost over-willingness to suffer and die.
Francis Parkman's noble volumes on France and Eng-
land in the New World contain just panegyric in abund-
ance in giving the thrilling story of men like Le Jeune,
and Brebeuf, and Jogues, and Lalemant, who intrepidly
assayed to subdue to the meekness of the spirit of Jesus
the Hurons and the terrible Iroquois, in the effort taking
their lives in their hands and suffering untold tortures,
with exultation even. To some, as Hennepin, Mar-
quette and Joliet, we also owe much for what they
achieved as explorers in the Great West. Or take
Xavier the most eminent of them all, indeed ranking
among the great evangelizers of Christian history. His

38 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

zeal consumed him, and his labors were truly apostolic.
His career in heathen lands was but brief, and yet in
those ten years (1542-52) spent in India and Japan he
is said to have baptized not less than 1,000,000 con-
verts. And in those countries, as well as in China, the
East Indies and Africa, his successors planted numerous
missions. In the New World South America was well
subjected to the Christian faith, that is, according to the
peculiar Roman pattern. Among the docile natives of
Paraguay was planted a veritable Jesuit's paradise, an
ideal state of society, in which the church was the alpha
and omega, and to an extent truly fearful and wonder-
ful supplied to the faithful reason, judgment, conscience,
everything. In Mexico and California some substantial
results were achieved, while at Quebec and Montreal,
with the exceedingly paternal civil rule of Louis XIV. to
co-operate, in the way of rigid discipline and blind obe-
dience there was not much left to be desired.

However, for some reason, nor is the cause far to
seek, as a rule the work of these Roman Catholic evan-
gelizers, though so extensive, and for the time in deceit-
ful appearance so successful, was as to results but un-
substantial and fleeting. Great stress was always laid
upon the mere ecclesiastical externals of religion, and
unchristian and disastrous compromises with heathenism
were not uncommon. Probably the most scandalous
case occurred in connection with Robert de Nobili in
southern India (1606-30), who gave himself out for a
Brahmin from the West, suffered none but men of high
caste to approach him, forged what he declared to be a
fifth Veda, etc., etc.; so that even Rome, never
squeamish over such trifling matters, could not tolerate
his departures from the gospel. Then further, the spirit

ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS. 39

of the missionaries was too lordly, they meddled too
much with political affairs, and thus stirred up against
themselves fear and deadly hatred. It was on account
of such blunders and sins that they were driven out of
Japan (1614) and China (1618), and in great numbers
their poor followers were tortured and put to death.
After a steady decline it had come to pass a hundred
years ago that Catholic missions, in foreign lands
where they had once been prosperous, were in many
cases almost extinct.

CHAPTER VII.

PREPARATION FOR MODERN MISSIONS.

What in the meantime were the Protestant churches
doing to enlarge the boundaries of the kingdom of
heaven ? The Luthers, and the Melanchthons, the
Calvins, Zwingles, Knoxes, and their successors ? The
humiliating and perplexing answer is, Practically noth-
ing for a hundred years. And for two hundred years
next to nothing. All the names worth mentioning of
men possessed of the missionary spirit, praying and toil-
ing to publish the gospel proclamation, can be counted
on the fingers of one hand. Yes, for three centuries
the attempts were but shockingly few, and the fruits but
meager. At best there was only here and there an in-
dividual soul oppressed with profound sorrow and sym-
pathy for the pagan world lying in wickedness. As for
the Reformed churches as a whole, they did nothing,
and they cared nothing. Luther had no look to spare
for lands lying beyond the pale of Christendom, could
only lament over the condition of the benighted Pa-
pists, the stiff-necked and stony-hearted Jews, and oc-
casionally of the dreadful Turks, who made their pres-
ence felt in those days by resolutely endeavoring to
push their dominion northward and westward in
Europe. As for Calvin, he could comment upon Mat-
thew and discover no trace of duty or privilege for the
disciples of Christ as touching the world's conversion.
Too many of the theologians had no faith in efforts to

40

PREPARATION FOR MODERN MISSIONS. 4!

win the heathen to the gospel, especially if these were
in a barbarous state, were bitterly opposed to such at-
tempts, even regarding them fanatical and sinful. And
why was this ? How shall we explain the phenomenon ?
We might sum up and set forth the reason in few
words, with the suggestion that the world was not ready,
the fulness of times for the universal spread of Chris-
tianity had not come, and centuries of preparation must
first intervene. It can not but be exceedingly profitable
to review the history of the last four hundred years with
this thought in mind, and take note of the manifold and
marvelous overturnings in all realms, high and low,
religious and secular, all of which have worked to-
gether to usher in this glorious century of world-wide
missions.

To begin with, the zeal of the early reformers, as
well as of those who came after them, was not evange-
listic, but polemic instead, was anti-Catholic, theologi-
cal, ecclesiastical. Such was the fashion that had come
down from the schoolmen. But further, the fact is well
established that, at least in the case of an important
portion, missionary fervor was smothered by certain
misreadings of scripture, and certain eschatological mis-
conceptions. As they judged, the signs of the times
clearly indicated that, not only was the world **very
evil," but also, *'the times were waxing late." The
gospel had already been ** preached in all the world for
a witness unto all nations," had already reached its ex-
treme limit in terrestrial space, and the end of all
things was at hand. The outlying pagan world was not
to be converted, but was about to be destroyed. Haste
was to be made to gather out the elect.

But serious hindrances of an entirely different sort are

42 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

to be brought to mind. It happened that in God's
strange providence Protestantism was compelled to en-
gage at once in a most desperate life-and-death struggle
with Rome, one whose fury did not in the least abate
for five or six generations, and which has continued
even to the present hour. The new doctrine and life
must with might and main establish a right to existence,
must conquer standing-ground, must first define, and
then enlarge to the utmost the boundaries of the Re-
formation in countries already Christian. So that as
yet there was neither much leisure nor vitality left to
expend upon the vast and even more benighted regions
beyond. In Babylon, out of which with horror they
had lately fled, the reformers found a foe ever-present,
wily, unscrupulous, and most determined to crush the
pestilent Lutheran heresy, and commonly with the ruth-
less civil power in close league and co-operation. The
horrid enginery of the Inquisition was steadily at work,
and the Jesuits were plotting night and day. All Ger-
many was in perpetual chaos, social, political, and re-
ligious. Recall the unspeakable desolations attending
the almost constant "religious" wars of those dark
days; how the Huguenots found no rest from persecution,
and finally were slaughtered by the wholesale, impover-
ished, imprisoned, and driven from France. For the
better part of a century little Holland bent to the ut-
most her almost miraculous energies to save herself
from utter destruction by the diabolical schemes of
Phillip II. of Spain. And as for England, in the per-
sons first of the Lollards, and later of the Puritans,
those who would have none of Rome suffered manifold
afflictions from Henry VIII. , Bloody Mary, Elizabeth,
and the four Stuarts, for one hundred and fifty years in

PREPARATION FOR MODERN MISSIONS. 43

all ; nor was the fearful stress finally over until happy
1688. Therefore, it is not to be counted in the least
strange that the dreary and bloody sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries witnessed no evangelistic crusades to
speak of aimed at remote Africa, America, and the Is-
lands of the Sea.

But besides this warfare, open and remorseless, between
Protestantism and the Papacy, there was another conflict
going on at the same time within the ranks of the re-
formed. The theological and ecclesiastical strifes which
began from the Reformation, esteemed one and all by
the combatants *' wars of the Lord," were almost as
bitter, as exhausting, and even more interminable, than
the fight for life against Rome. And, indeed, the task
was herculean, full of difficulty, demanded the utmost
of wisdom and skill to separate Bible truth from Rom-
ish error, with which for more than a millennium it had
become worse and worse intermingled. The lamentable
heresy and apostasy extended to a multitude of matters
pertaining to both belief and practise. The reformers
of necessity resorted to the Scriptures anew and in-
vestigated for themselves. The human mind now just
set free from age-long and galling tyranny, of course
was altogether unused to untrammelled exercise, and so
not strangely ran riot sometimes, and occasionally went
to the other extreme of license, lawlessness, anarchy.
Sects sprang up by the score, all manner of hobbies got
upon their feet and performed their antics before high
heaven. While to beliefs and customs some would
bring the least possible change, others would reject
these to the utmost, and thus be as unlike as possible to
the infamous harlot of the Seven Hills ! But the most
temperate and conservative were compelled to fashion

44 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

fresh creeds and forms of worship. And, should eccle-
siastical rule be monarchic or aristocratic as aforetime,
or democratic rather, or at what point between ? And
the confession, should it be of the Augsburg pattern, or
of the Helvetic, or the Gallic, or the Belgic ? Which
was verily nearest to God's Word, the Heidelberg, the
Westminster, the Thirty-nine Articles, or the Savoy ?
The spirit of war filled the air in all regions to which
the Reformation had come, in all realms fighting, at
least with the tongue and pen, was the chief business ;
and hence Luther was hot against Zvvingle, and both
against Calvin, and all three could by no means tolerate
in the least the wicked errors of Arminius, Servetus,
and the rest. In England for long, it was not only
Protestant always and everywhere against Catholic, but
it was also war to the knife between the Established
Church and the Presbyterians, the Puritans, the In-
dependents, the Baptists, the Quakers, etc. Nor, in
the nature of things, could it be any light matter, a
short and simple process, to escape altogether from the
intellectual and moral night of the Dark Ages, to return
fully to the truth as it is in Jesus ; or for Protestantism
to come thoroughly to itself, to a knowledge of its sub-
lime mission, and as well to fashion the instrumentali-
ties needed to accomplish the tremendous task assigned.
Mention must also be made of the essential part per-
formed in the educating and spiritualizing of the Prot-
estant world by the translations of the Scriptures into
the vernacular. It was only in this way that the Word
could be made accessible to the multitude, and so be
popularized, and be able to operate most directly and
most mightily upon the largest number. For a thousand
years Christendom had been poring devoutly over the

PREPARATION FOR MODERN MISSIONS. 45

lucubrations of the fathers, the schoolmen, the monks,
and the decrees of councils, and as a result had become
filled with gross misconceptions concerning God, and
man, and the Church, and Christian virtue, and the
world to come. But now a return was to be made to
the very fountain-head of divine knowledge. Celestial
wisdom was from henceforth to flow direct to the mind
and heart from the pens of psalmists, prophets, apostles,
as well as from the teachings of the Son of God. With
eyes thus opened, all things taught and practised were
to be proved, the false and foolish were to be rejected,
while the pure gospel was to be faithfully applied to
character and life.

A further obstacle, as good as insuperable, was found
for centuries after the Reformation in the fact that
everywhere Church and State, the spiritual therefore
and the material, were closely united, and so long had
the relation existed that now it seemed to most to be not
only eminently proper, but also necessary. This was
another portion of the evil inheritance received from
Rome, and as a result religion had come to be largely a
political affair to be managed in cabinets by kings and
statesmen and generals, by them to be fostered, guided
and defended. Force was in common use to advance
orthodoxy, to punish opinions and convictions which by
theologians, philosophers, or even politicians, were ad-
judged to be pestilential. Such a wretched caricature
of the spirit and methods of the New Testament as re-
sulted was not worthy of universal diffusion. Noii tali
auxilioy neque istis defensoi'ibiis ! The nations that sat
in the darkness of paganism must needs wait until
under the hand of God this unchristian alliance, this
profane mingling of the things of God with the things

46 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

of Caesar, is brought to an end, at least is on the sure
road to the final catastrophe.

And then in addition, as yet, in any realm, nothing
of importance was ever undertaken and prosecuted by
the individual of his own motion, or by the masses,
from an impulse abounding within ; but every movernent
was by prescription, by the authority of pope, king,
bishop, and was under the direction of certain orders,
and companies, and guilds. The blessed day of vol-
untary associations was not yet — was far in the future.
The benighted people were nobodies, were but cattle to
be driven, or clay to be molded, only instruments to
be played upon by the few enjoying the divine right to
originate, and shape, and manage. As we shall pres-
ently see, what little was done to carry the gospel abroad
was devised wholly, and was engineered in every case,
by royalty and privileged corporations. In those days
kings were nursing fathers, and queens were nursing
mothers, in a way that was full of evil. All which was
as far as possible from the glorious days of the apostles
and their successors, when missionary effort was mainly
individual, voluntary and spontaneous, and when the
entire body of Christ was instinct and overflowing with
celestial aggressive force. No world-wide progress could
be made until such ignoble and enfeebling bonds were
somehow broken, and, if need be, through violent civil
and ecclesiastical overturning, and the rude shock of
war. The English Revolution with the sublime out-
burst of the Puritan spirit must precede, the American
Revolution, yes, and the French Revolution, with the
terrible throes and destructions included of the Reign
of Terror and the Napoleonic campaigns, to terminate
a great host of old abuses, to teach priests and nobles a

PREPARATION FOR MODERN MISSIONS. 47

much needed but unpalatable lesson in humility and
modesty, and to exalt the rights and privileges of the
many. And above all, the religious world was waiting
for the rise of a great people beyond the Atlantic, un-
trammeled by tradition, God-fearing, intelligent, each
one trained to think and act for himself, with democracy
in the State reacting upon the Church, a people loving
liberty better than life. Then at length the gospel, free
as at the first, left to itself to do its appointed work
under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and the guid-
ance of the Word, and with reliance upon spiritual
forces alone, could enlarge itself indefinitely on every
side, and spread finally around the whole earth.

There was yet another obstacle to the re-beginning
and development of missions which was well nigh pro-
hibitory, and was resident in the fact that, for gener-
ations after the Reformation, Protestant peoples possessed
no point of actual contact with the heathen world.
Hence the existence of any extended and deplorable
moral darkness was not brought home to their senses,
was a mere matter of hearsay and untested theory.
Navigation to distant parts, commerce, colonization,
were in the hands of such servitors of Rome as Portugal
and Spain. Because Catholics beheld pagan realms
with their own eyes they also felt, and sent out mission-
aries in troops. It was not until after the marked de-
cline of those two powers that Protestant Denmark,
Holland and England stepped suddenly forward as
rulers of the sea. And the first Danish missions were
planted in Danish Greenland and at Tranquebar. In
like manner the first Dutch missionaries touched heathen
soil in Dutch Java, Ceylon, and the West Indies. Eliot
also, and Brainerd were stirred with evangelizing ardor

48 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

only toward the Indians to be found at their very doors.
And where did Carey and Vanderkemp, among the very
first of Englishmen to carry forth the glad tidings, make
their attempts to rescue the perishing, but upon the
Ganges and at Cape Town whither British authority,
and British settlers, had already gone? And the first
three British societies to be formed with missionary aims
had no look other than towards British colonies in the
New World and elsewhere. And when the naval and
commercial hegemony passed finally into Protestant
hands, it was the Lord's sure token that the pure Gospel
was about to fly abroad. In due season followed other
and more astounding victories for the rising faith of
Luther, and chiefly through British valor and aggressive
enterprise. It was nothing less than one of the greatest
epochs in history, especially in relation to all English-
speaking people, and to the publishing of the message
to mankind, when almost in the same year Clive con-
quered at Plassey (1757), and Wolfe at Quebec (1759),
and thus eventually by the hundred million Hindus
were brought under the care of English Christians,
while the French were driven from this continent to
make ready for the rise of a " Greater Britain," which
should fairly rival the mother country as an ardent
evangelizer, and continually provoke her to good works.
One more step of a somewhat similar character re-
mained to be taken, nor was it long delayed. Since the
generation which followed Columbus and Magellan and
the Cabots and Drake, there had been a strange and
long-continued apathy with regard to carrying forward
to completion the discovery of unknown regions. Little
progress had been made in that direction save by a few
like Barentz, and Tasman, and Behring, until Captain

PREPARATION FOR MODERN MISSIONS. 49

Cook's three famous voyages (1769-79). In particular,
he turned the attention of the civilized world to such
continental land-masses as Australia, New Zealand, and
New Guinea, and brought to light in the hitherto un-
traversed expanse of the Pacific the South Seas of a
century since, islands innumerable, the Society group,
the Friendly, the Sandwich, etc. We can scarcely
understand the prodigious stir that was made, the bound-
less enthusiasm that was kindled by his achievements.
The explorations of our Livingstone and Stanley were
received coldly by comparison. And the impulse given
to missions was immediate and very great. Two facts
in evidence of this must suffice ; it was the reading of
Cook's narrative that first set Carey's soul on fire with
longing to " attempt great things for God " in heathen
lands, and his original plan was to devote himself to
toil in " Otaheite " (Tahiti). And the London Society,
flt whose organization such a remarkable wave of re-
ligious zeal arose and spread all over Britain and to the
Continent, was formed expressly to carry the tidings of
salvation to the South Seas, and in Tahiti its earliest re-
presentatives first touched land and opened their work.

A final step remained in preparing the way for suc-
cessful missionary undertakings. A mighty and wide-
spread outpouring of the Spirit of the Most High had
been the chief desideratum. From various causes oper-
ating in conjunction during the latter part of the seven-
teenth century, and extending far into the eighteenth, a
sad and dark eclipse of faith had befallen the Reformed
churches, a serious decline of vital piety, a lapse into
frigid formalism and rank rationalism. The only zeal
left was for an orthodoxy which was stone dead.
*< Never has there been a century in England so void of

50 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

faith as that which began with Queen Anne and ended
with George 11. , when the last Puritan was buried and
the first Methodist was not born." The Pietists of
Germany, with Francke among the leaders, were pos-
sessed of the true evangelical spirit. In 1722, when the
renewed Moravian Church came into being, cheering
evidence began to appear that divine grace and mercy
were not clean gone forever from His apostate people.
And not much later began to descend those marvelous
showers of heavenly blessing, through the fervid and
tireless labors of the Wesleys (1738-91), Whitefield, and
our own Edwards (1734-49), whereby were supplied to
many thousands a love fiery and vehement, a faith hardy
and venturesome, like that which enkindled and uplifted
the church in the pentecostal age. Without this almost un-
paralleled anointing from above modern missions could
never have begun to be, but now it was possible for the
kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of our
Lord and of his Christ.

Closely akin to what has just been mentioned, and in
great part as a result of the operation of the same spir-
itual force, the heart of Christendom began to be mys-
teriously touched and melted, and filled with compas-
sion for the millions who were suffering and dying —
that is, the spirit of humanity, of philanthropy, the
Good Samaritan, which is inherent in the gospel, was
everywhere active in the early days, but which had long
since been almost quenched, was revived. Even Chris-
tian souls had been for ages in an unfeeling frame, re-
flecting thus the old pagan and barbarous times. The
laws were cruel and savage. Sorrow and woe and pain
found slight sympathy. When the general case was so
forlorn, and only the few were intelligent and free, little

PREPARATION FOR MODERN MISSIONS. 5 1

heed was paid to the misery of others, and especially if
of a different nation, out of sight, at a distance. But a
marked change in this regard was at the door. John
Howard had started on his journeys to abolish the
grievous wrongs inflicted upon prisoners ; Wilberforce
and Clarkson were lifting their voices in denunciation of
the sin of slavery; and Raikes had opened his first rag-
ged school. And this was but the feeble beginning of an
era of moral reforms which constitute one of the most
characteristic features of the passing century, as well as
one of its best claims to be remembered with gratitude
in centuries to come. Our missions are to be regarded
as in no small degree the outcome of the philanthropy
to which the gospel has given life and vigor.

This brief glance at tlie Protestant Christian world,
extending from near the beginning of the sixteenth cen-
tury to near the end of the eighteenth, is sufficient
abundantly to demonstrate that the long failure of the
Lord's host to go up and possess the whole world for
Christ, though in no inconsiderable degree to their shame
and their sin, and because of their indifference and un-
belief, was also, in yet greater measure, their misfortune,
the result of evil environments for which they were not
responsible, and which they were compelled to endure.
Moreover, those same tempestuous and most trying years
were not by any means wholly wasted, but on the con-
trary were an all-important and indispensable period of
extensive seed-sowing in preparation for the magnificent
missionary harvest to follow. At length the time was
fully ripe. Rome was now so badly battered that no
longer need any live in mortal fear, lest either by guile
or open assault she should recapture lost territory, and
therefore Protestant Christianity could well afford to face

52 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

some other way than towards the Tiber. Freedom both
ecclesiastical and civil had extensively become the sure
inheritance of the masses ; and also to them the public
school and the printing-press were fast bringing intelli-
gence to fit them for evangelistic thought and action.
There were no more lands to be discovered, and the rail-
road and the steamship were soon to bring near, and
make easily accessible, the very ends of the earth. And
finally, in the nick of time, a few at least, in loving obe-
dience to the last command of their risen and ascended
Lord, were ready and eager to go into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.

CHAPTER VIII.

PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY.

Though so little was accomplished, or even under-
taken, by Protestant Christians during the first three
centuries after the beginning of the Reformation, and
that period was one mainly of preparation, for the re-
moval of obstacles, for laying foundations deep and
broad, yet after all, a few attempts were actually made,
some fruits were gathered in, souls redeemed in pagan
lands ; and best of all, some undying names appear in the
record of men who for earnestness, self-sacrifice and
consecrated zeal have never been surpassed, and have
been anew to each generation since the source of aston-
ishing inspiration and evangelistic ardor. But be it re-
membered that the principal value of those three hun-
dred years is found in the fact that during their course,
and largely in non-religious realms, a continual process
was going on of exalting valleys, making low mountains
and hills, making crooked places straight and rough
places plain to prepare the way of the Lord, and make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.

The narrative of what was attempted for the redemp-
tion of mankind is so brief as to be humiliating and
painful. Just before his death, in 1536, Erasmus pub-
lished a work on the Art of Preaching, which has been
termed a '' missionary treatise," which in passages reads
" like a modern missionary address, and might be placed
side by side with the appeals of Carey, Duff, and Liv-

53

54 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

ingstone." But it fell upon deaf ears, and hearts with-
out feeling. In 1556, at the request of the great Prot-
estant Admiral Coligny, Calvin despatched fourteen
pious men, of whom only two were clergymen, to Brazil.
But they went for the sake of a proposed colony rather
than as heralds of good news to the heathen, and besides,
the ''mission" soon met with overwhelming disaster.
And it was not in the least the churches sending their
representatives, but the statesman making request, and
the theologian choosing and bidding God-speed. In
1559, Gustavus — the king, and not the Swedish church,
or the Swedish Christians — was moved to send the gos-
pel to the pagan Lapps, and his successors carried on
what he had begun. Churches were built, schools were
opened, and in later years religious books were published
in the vernacular, but only the slightest spiritual results
ensued. And the reason becomes evident when we learn
that all services were held in Swedish, which the people
did not understand, and that in the winter months by
royal edict the population was gathered to pay tribute
and to be indoctrinated into the faith. For such were
the methods in those days, when the Church was scarcely
more than a department of the State. Within the nar-
row limits of this paragraph is contained the substance
of the entire narrative of what was done in the sixteenth
century for missions.

And the record of the seventeenth century is not
much more creditable, except that in it we discern the
promise, the potency, and the preparation for vastly
brighter days to come. But even yet, what we find of
good omens is for the most part upon the secular side
of human affairs. Tremendous revolutions both politi-
cal and commercial were at hand, which were destined

PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY. 55

in due season to open wide the door for the introduction
of a pure gospel into remotest continents and islands.
As we have already seen, for a full hundred years after
tlie stunning achievements of Columbus and Vasco da
Gama and Magellan, Spain and Portugal, both devoted
to the Papacy, had enjoyed a monopoly of discovery,
and trade, and colonization, in all the vast new-found
regions. No other nation had been sufficiently venture-
some to presume to trespass, scarcely even to land for
purposes of traffic, upon the shores either of the East
Indies, or of the New World. So that to the very
wisest of that day, or of any generation for centuries
after, if he had canvassed the question it must have
seemed that providence designed Protestants to have
no part or lot in the world outside of Europe. But
at length and almost the same time, three Protestant
nations began to bestir themselves, to build navies and
merchant ships, and to voyage whithersoever they
would, north, south, east, west, in spite of papal bull, or
prohibition from the Iberian peninsula. And the change
which resulted has continued to this day, and with re-
sults steadily increasing constitutes one of the most
striking of historical phenomena ; judged by its effects
being greater far than the famous sending of Solomon's
ships to Ophir or the voyages and settlements of the
Phenicians, and in its relation to the universal spread of
the gospel every way worthy to be classed with Alex-
ander's conquests in remotest Persia and India, and the
countless campaigns of the Roman legions. The earlier
outcome was only commercial, political, military ; su-
preme power simply passed from Roman Catholic to
Protestant hands. But the deep divine meaning was
nothing less than the world-wide spread of the funda-

56 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS,

mental ideas and principles of the Reformation, and
later and more especially, the world-wide and un-
paralled dominion of God's most highly honored mis-
sionary agency, the Anglo-Saxon race.

The Dutch were the first to poach without conscience
upon the Portuguese preserves in southern Asia. They
had maintained their independence against the utmost
that Philip of Spain could do, and he having united
in his own person the sovereignty of the two peoples
beyond the Pyrenees, and in order to punish these
doughty Netherlandei-s whom he could not conquer,
forbade their ships to enter the port of Lisbon, the
both entrepot and depot for the spices and all other
precious products of the East and West. Now the
Hollanders had long been the ocean carriers for all
Europe, and thus were threatened with commercial ruin
utter, and without remedy. Nor, driven to such desper-
ate straits, were they long in coming to the sensible con-
clusion that if not allowed to purchase what commodities
they wanted nearer home, they would procure them in
their native clime, and also at first hand. The annihila-
tion of the Spanish Armada is 1588 supplied the golden
opportunity. After three unsuccessful attempts to find a
north-east passage by way of Nova Zembla and Behring
Straits, in 1596, just when Van Linschoten, after fifteen
years' acquaintance with the Portuguese and their com-
merce in Lisbon and the East, had published a work full
of information, containing maps and charts, giving
routes, laying down currents, rocks, harbors, etc.; the
Houtman brothers doubled the Cape of Good Hope and
a few months later appeared in Sumatra waters. In 1602
the Dutch East India Company was organized under a
charter which specified as one of the objects to be

PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY. 57

sought the carrying of the Reformed faith to the
heathen. In 1605 Van der Hagen, while en route for
the Spice Islands, made a lodgment upon the Malabar
Coast in the vicinity of Goa, the Portuguese head-
quarters in India, and then sailing on to Amboyna,
one of the Moluccas, captured it. Now followed almost
a century of Dutch conquest. Batavia was founded in
1619. By 1635 Formosa had become subject to the
States, Malacca by 1640, while in 1651 fell the last
Portuguese stronghold in Ceylon, and by 1664 the en-
tire Malabar Coast had passed into Dutch hands. Also
in 1650 a colony had been planted at the Cape of Good
Hope, as a sort of half-way house on the road to the
East.

But we search almost in vain for any display of mis-
sionary zeal in these movements. The Company was
purely commercial and political in its designs, and its
desires were fastened on something other than evangel-
ists and converts. To be sure, ministers in considerable
numbers were sent out, especially in the earlier years,
and some of them were truly godly men, in earnest to do
good. The gospel was preached in the vicinity of the
factories, the Scriptures were translated into Malay and
Cingalese, and printed at the expense of the Company.
Pagan temples were closed, and Catholic churches were
turned to Protestant uses, while an end was put to the
celebration of both Buddhist and Romish rites. But,
let what occurred in Ceylon and Java stand for the
spirit and methods of Dutch evangelization, which at
length prevailed. And note the subordination of the
religious to the political. It was given out by the
highest civil authority that no favors could be expected
from the government by any who did not accept the

58 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Helvetic Confession and receive baptism. However, as
an easy preparation, it was only required that the can-
didate should master the Ten Commandments and the
Lord's Prayer, and in addition, undertake to pray morn-
ing and evening, and say grace before and after meals !
And behold, eager crowds pressed into the churches.
By the end of the seventeenth century there were 300,-
000 ''Christians'* in Ceylon, which number had in-
creased to 425,000 in 1725. In Java 100,000 received
baptism under similar impulses and upon similar terms,
and both process and results were of the same order in
Formosa, Celebes, the Moluccas, etc. Of course the
gains to Christianity were but slightly, if any, beyond
those which followed from the missionary labors of the
Jesuits in the same regions. But the best outcome was
to appear later. The Dutch conquests in the East made
vast populations known to the Protestant world, and
eventually made them accessible to the heralds of a pure
faith. The Hollanders were explorers and pioneers.
Nor in India and the Spice Islands alone, but in the
New World as well. For the Dutch West India Com»
pany was organized in 1607 ; two years later Hudson
made his advent into New York harbor, and ascended
the river which bears his name ; and about the same
time settlements were made in Surinam and Brazil,
where, at least in some slight measure, gospel work was
done.

Protestant Denmark was performing in the meantime
her portion of the work of preparation, which though
but insignificant in appearance at the time, and its re-
lation to missions long entirely hidden, may not im-
properly be esteemed of great value, and in a sense even
indispensable. In 16 16 certain Danish traders made

PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY. 55

their advent upon the eastern coast of India, and in the
same memorable year, building for the kingdom of
heaven how vastly better than they knew, or desired,
founded factories at both Tranquebar and Serampore.
Such was the Lord's mysterious way of setting forces in
operation which, ninety years later, should locate in the
one the first Protestant mission properly so called, and
one hundred and seventy-seven years later should
provide for the first band of English-speaking mis-
sionaries in the other a safe abiding place, where in
spite of the utmost that the British East India Company
could do, they were able to maintain themselves, and to
carry on their mag-^iificent work.

But within this same period English sailors also had
learned the same watery road to the East, and after long
and resolutely trying in vain to discover a north-west
passage to Asia, at length turned southward and followed
the courses struck out by Gama and Magellan. In
ipf'j'j-g, Drake made the circuit of the globe via Cape
Horn, traversing the East Indian Archipelago and the
Indian Ocean ; Stephens penetrated to the region of the
Spice Islands in 1579-82 by way of the Cape of Good
Hope, and Cavendish followed in 1586. The East
India Company was formed 1598-1603, u-nder a charter
granted by William III., and at once sent out the first
of a long succession of fleets to trade and fight, as well
as to found factories and colonies. Nearly a century
followed of war with the Dutch for a share of the
islands, and of the traffic in cloves, cinnamon, pepper,
etc. In 1 6 14 at Surat the first factory was opened in
India, in 1630 the site of Madras was occupied, in
1642 the Hoogley was entered and the seed was planted
out of which Calcutta grew, while in 1661 Bombay was

6o A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

transferred from the Portuguese to the English. But no
prophet of the time was gifted with foresight sufficient to
perceive in the least the importance of the doings of
these selfish, and mercenary, and often conscienceless
traders as touching the religious future of the many
millions of this continental peninsula. And from near
the opening of the seventeenth century until near the
close of the eighteenth, English Christians were stone-
blind to their duty and privilege, and did nothing
whatsoever for the introduction of the gospel into
southern Asia, and this, though the charter of their great
Company expressly required that a plentiful supply of
chaplains should be maintained at all its stations, and it
was made obligatory upon all these to learn the language
of the natives in their vicinity, and to give religious in-
struction to such of them as were in the company's
employ.

Our point of vision passes now to the New World
where other momentous beginnings are in progress at the
same time, and though belonging to the other side of the
globe, are yet in closest connection with those we have
just been considering. In the history of modern mis-
sions Jamestown and Plymouth will always be words to
conjure with, and the dates 1607 and 1620 will take rank
with the few that mark the opening of eras. In all the
early voyages to America under the lead of Raleigh and
others, the conversion of the aborigines received no in-
considerable mention. Upon the seal of Massachusetts
colony was represented an Indian with extended arms,
and the legend '' Come over and help us." As early as
1636 Plymouth took legislative action looking to the
evangelization of the pagans dwelling hard by. In 1644
the General Court at Boston ordered the county courts

PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY. 6l

** to have the resident Indians instructed in the knowl-
edge and worship of God," and thus became in the
phrase of a competent historian '*the first missionary
society of Protestant Christendom." But as yet it was
not churches, or individual Christians, that moved in
this great matter, but corporations, and courts, and leg-
islatures, instead. In 1642 the May hews began their
apostolic labors upon Martha's Vineyard and the neigh-
boring islands, to be continued in the same family for
five successive generations, and in 1646 John Eliot
preached his first sermon to the red men in their own
tongue, while by 1663 he had completed his Indian
Bible. The labors of this gifted and godly man continued
until the close of his life in 1690. By the end of the
century several thousands had become Christian in name,
and thirty churches had been gathered. It was to assist
the New England colonists in these labors of love that
twelve ministers petitioned Parliament, and as a result in
1649 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
New England was chartered, and for years substantial
financial succor was bestowed. There were a few En-
glishmen of eminence in that generation of the spirit
and deeds of Robert Boyle, who for thirty years was the
president of that society, and contributed ;^3oo to its
funds, nearly ^^1,000 for various translations of the
Bible, and at his death left ;^5,4oo ^' for the propagation
of Christianity in infidel and unenlightened nations."
It was in this period, too, that Cromwell devised his
scheme, which though futile was yet grand, for uniting
all Protestant peoples in an effort to evangelize the whole
race, parcelling out among them the entire heathen and
Mohammedan world.

Two or three almost fruitless attempts on the part of

62 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

individuals will complete the missionary history of the
seventeenth century. In one of the earlier decades, in-
spired by Grotius, seven young men of Liibeck were
moved to endeavor to rekindle the light of New Testa-
ment truth in the midst of the corrupt Oriental churches.
One set forth for Jerusalem, but lost his faith while upon
the journey ; another pushed his way into Turkey and
seems to have met death by violence ; while a third,
Peter Heyling, after several failures, is heard of in Abys-
sinia in 1634, and for years lifted up his voice in wit-
nessing for Christ. Then in 1664 Von Welz, an Austrian
baron of Ratisbon, his heart burning within him, pub-
lished two impassioned pamphlets in which he called
upon Christians to rouse themselves and make haste to
seek and save the lost of the race, and proposed the
formation for the purpose of a Jesus-Society. But for
his longings he found no sympathy. His was a voice
crying in the wilderness which found none to listen.
The mass of the Lutheran Church regarded his schemes
as preposterous, so far as they received any attention.
One so learned and pious as Ursinus " distinctly stigma-
tizes his appeal as a dream, rebukes its self-willed piety,
its hypocrisy, its Anabaptist and Quaker spirit, and dep-
recates the proposed Jesus- Association in these words :
Protect us from it, dear Lord God ! " This great theo-
logian concludes that the gospel is not meant for barbar-
ians like Greenlanders, Tatars and Cannibals. ''The
holy things of God are not to be cast before such dogs
and swine." Exciting thus only opposition and ridicule
in Germany, at length Von Welz took his departure for
Holland, gave up his title to nobility, bestowed some
$9,000 upon the object so dear to his heart, was ordained,
and sailed for Surinam, where he soon died.

PROTESTANT MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY. 63

Thus ends the second century of Protestant history.
The missionary dawn is still almost a hundred years
away in the future, but we have now reached the vicinity
of certain cheering tokens that the morning will not fail
to appear. What must be regarded as distinctly a new
stage in the development of missionary activity comes
into view in the first years of the eighteenth century,
with Denmark and the Lutherans as the actors. And
further, as the fashion was, with the king and his court
to lead. The fact seems to be established that it was by
his chaplain Lutkens that Frederick IV. was stirred up
to send forth the message of salvation to the various dis-
tant dependencies of the Crown. Searching about earn-
estly for suitable persons to despatch on this gospel er-
rand, not one could be found within the bounds of the
kingdom, and therefore recourse was had to those almost
solitary centers of evangelical fervor, Halle and Berlin,
and to the renowned pietists, Francke and Spener, so
much spoken against by the formalists and rationalists of
their time. At length two young men were chosen and
found ready to go to the far off regions of darkness.
But great opposition was encountered in Germany, on the
ground that missions to the heathen were neither neces-
sary nor proper ; and so difficult was it found to estab-
lish their orthodoxy before a court of Danish theolo.
gians, that ordination was secured to the candidates only
at the imperative command of the king. But finally,
and after a tempestuous voyage of forty weeks, in July
of 1706, these pioneers for the kingdom among the
teeming millions of India, Ziegenbalg and Plutschau,
stepped on shore at Tranquebar, a Danish settlement on
the south-east coast, and began their arduous labors. In-
credible difficulties were in waiting, and not only from

64 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

the idol-worshipping natives, but even more from godless
Europeans, and from the unbelieving and jealous Danish
governor, who set himself to put every possible hindrance
in their way, and went so far as to cast Ziegenbalg into
prison, where he lay for four months in confinement,
and forbidden the use of pen and paper. But in spite
of all they held on, mastered the language, translated
the Scriptures and other books, opened schools and
preached here and there without ceasing. It is estimated
that before the end of the century not less than 50,000
converts had been made. The peculiar glory of this
mission lies in the fact that it was the first Protestant un-
dertaking in India, or in any remote heathen country,
and also that for almost a half-century (1750-98) it
was blessed with the presence and magnificent services
of Schwartz, whose name belongs among the first half-
score of eminent apostles to the pagan world.

In 1 714 this same Danish King Frederick established
a college of missions, and two years later under his aus-
pices the gospel was carried to Lapland. Just at this
time it was also that in northern Norway the soul of
Hans Egede was pondering a mighty question night and
day. For thirteen years the Macedonian cry had
sounded in his ears ; he had read of a colony which
centuries since had been planted in Greenland, but from
which no message for centuries had been received ; he
longed to undertake something for the relief of his
countrymen imprisoned in that land of ice, and sought
eagerly in every direction for means to betake himself
thither. He petitioned Frederick for aid, and in 1717
resigned his pastorate in Waagen, and made his way to
Copenhagen. Finally by sheer persistence, having con-
quered every obstacle, he set forth in 1721 to enter upon

PROtESTANt MISSIONS BEFORE CAREY. 65

a fifteen years' course of disappointment, and of suffer-
ing both physical and spiritual, and with but the slight-
est measures of success attending. No settlers were
found, but only a handful of sordid and most degraded
Eskimo. With only his heroic wife to lend comfort
and hope, with storm and frost, famine and pestilence,
to endure, he held resolutely on until other missionaries
came, and he was fairly compelled to retire.

And now the Christian world was to behold yet an-
other step forward in the sublime march of missionary
progress. And this likewise was closely connected with
Denmark, King Frederick, and the pietist Francke.
The renewed Moravian Church had been formed only
ten years, and numbered but some six hundred souls,
when Zinzendorf, who had felt profoundly the evangel-
ical movement which centered in Halle, paid a visit to
Copenhagen at the coronation of Christian VI. While
there he heard that the settlements which since Egede
went out had been maintained in Greenland, being
financially unprofitable, were to be broken up and the
missionaries called home (again we see religion placed
at the mercy of political and financial considerations),
and he also saw two Eskimo converts whom Egede
had baptized. Moreover it came to his knowledge that
the sister of a negro whom he met was a slave in St.
Thomas, and with other wretched bondmen was famish-
ing for the bread of life. This tiny mustard seed of
knowledge fell into soil most fruitful and was destined
to bear a plentiful harvest. The story was repeated in
Herrnhut, and within a few months five intrepid mes-
sengers of peace were ready and eager to endure all and
risk all, whether at the frozen north, or under the
tropics, and in the latter case expecting success only at

66 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

the cost of themselves being sold into slavery, but glad
to suffer this, or even to die, if only able to save a
single soul. Such was the inspiring and most extraor-
dinary genesis of Moravian missions. Nor from that
day to this has the spirit changed, nor has a halt been
called. This little church went on in faith and love to
start *' more missions in twenty years than all the Prot-
estant churches together had in two hundred." Dr.
Warneck justly deems Francke and Zinzendorf "the
fathers of the modern mission to the heathen." And
further, he declares of the latter that " he is the first in
modern times on whose heart lay day and night the de-
sire that all the ends of the earth might see the salvation
of God." Think of the marvel, six missions founded
so far apart in six brief years : 1732 in the West Indies,
1733 in Greenland, 1734 among the American Indians,
1735 in Surinam, and 1736 in South Africa.

We come now to a great gap, extending from Zinzen-
dorf to Carey. For full sixty years not a single new
missionary undertaking was set on foot. True a ^t^w so-
cieties were organized in England, whose object was at
least semi-evangelistic. Among them was the Society
for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, dating from
1698, and which through this period supplied Ziegen-
balg and his successors with the sinews of war. And
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in For-
eign Parts, chartered by King William in 1701, and
which afterwards sent John Wesley to Georgia. The
Scottish Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge fol-
lowed in 1709, one of whose missionaries in later years
David Brainerd became. The few honored names can
be mentioned of those who undertook to carry on the
work which Eliot and the Mayhews had begun during

PROTESTANT mSSIONS BEFORE CAREY. 67

the century preceding. Such as Horton, who labored
among the Indians of Long Island. And Sergeant, who
in 1734 resigned a tutorship in Yale College, and re-
moved to Stockbridge to gather the scattered Mohegans
and preach to them the gospel, whose successor Edwards
became (1750-6). In New Jersey and eastern New
York Brainerd was in evangelistic labors abundant and
greatly blessed (1744-7), as well as Kirkland among the
Oneidas from 1764 onward. In 1766 when Occum
visited England in behalf of Mr. Wheelock's school for
Indians, he easily raised ;j^i 2,000 among the churches.
But all things considered, the phrase *' apostle to the
Indians," whether for length of service or for toils,
sufferings, and mortal perils endured, clearly belongs to
the Moravian David Zeisberger, who for sixty-two years
(i 746-1808), devoted himself without stint to the Dela-
wares in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and
Canada.

A few sentences will suffice to tell of the great changes
in the political world which had an intimate bearing
upon missionary movements about to begin. The terri-
torial growth of Great Britain was astounding during the
eighteenth century, and both in the east and the west.
The Seven Years* War was of slight significance
to the powers of Europe engaged, as compared with its
tremendous outcome for the spread of the Gospel. For
it gave to Pitt the peerless opportunity to end forever, at
Quebec in 1759, ^^e dominion of Catholic France in
the New World, and in India in 1757 at the battle of
Plassey to lay the sure foundations for British dominion
in southern Asia. The Dutch were also largely ex-
pelled from their eastern possessions, losing Ceylon and
Cape Colony in 1795. ^^^ ^7^7 Sierra Leone was occu-

68 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

pied as a place of refuge for liberated slaves. Along
with this material preparation for missions, for fifty
years the glorious Wesleyan revival had been rising and
spreading, that greatest effusion of the Spirit since Pen-
tecost, scarcely less important to Christendom than the
Reformation itself. In the momentous campaign about
to begin against heathenism throughout the whole
world, not German and Scandinavian, as hitherto, but
Anglo-Saxon Protestantism was destined to lead, and in
the bones of William Carey the holy fire had already
begun to burn!

CHAPTER IX.

THE CAREY EPOCH IN MISSIONS.

The closing years of the eighteenth century constitute
in the history of Protestant missions an epoch indeed, since
they witnessed nothing less than a revolution, a renais-
sance, an effectual and manifold ending of the old, a sub-
stantial inauguration of the new. It was then that for the
first time since the apostolic period, occurred an outburst
of general missionary zeal and activity. Beginning in
Great Britain, it soon spread to the Continent and across
the Atlantic. It was no mere push of fervor, but a mighty
tide set in, which from that day to this has been steadily
rising and spreading. Hitherto all similar undertakings
had been isolated, spasmodic, and lacking in reliable
support. Spurts of vigor were certain to end in fatal
relapse. Excepting in the case of the noble Moravian
work, every attempt had thus sooner or later come to
failure. But from this time forward it is no more to be
after this discouraging fashion. Or the fact may be
stated in this way. Hitherto the churches, ministers and
people together, had been indifferent to the spiritual
condition of the pagan world. Whatever had been done
was the achievement of some single earnest soul, or some
monarch, and usually m that case politics entered largely
as a directing force. Only a little circle had been
aroused and moved to co-operate, while all about was a
dead mass of apathy. And so, naturally, the project
ended with the originator. But with Carey was ushered

69

70 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

ill a more excellent way. A few elect spirits were
touched, and from them the flame was diffused to
Christians of other names in all the dissenting churches,
and to the great Establishment as well ; that is to the most
intelligent and spiritual in each. It was the plain peo-
ple, the masses, that now began to pray and give and
go, not tarrying in the least for king or prelate to hoist
the signal. Or this form of expression will fairly well
complete the setting forth of the change which now tran-
spired, so radical and sweeping as to amount to a revo-
lution. Here and now was the beginning of missionary
organization. From henceforth as never before, emo-
tion, desire, holy purpose, were to be incarnated in consti-
tutions and by-laws, in memberships and anniversaries, in
treasuries and systematic giving, the continual offering
of littles by each one in great multitudes. And Carey's
Baptist society, which originated in his brain, was the
model for the scores and hundreds which followed after.
Thus was ushered in the happy day of voluntary socie-
ties, organizations sustained by such as are interested in
the promotion of the objects sought.

And the year of grace 1792 is minus mirabiiis, the
famous date from which to reckon backward and for-
ward. Well may it stand side by side with 44 A. D.,
when the Holy Ghost said, ^' Separate me Barnabas and
Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Or
53 A. D., when in vision Paul was bidden to lay the
foundations of the gospel in Europe. Whatever has
been accomplished since can be traced to forces which
began to operate a hundred years ago. And Carey is
not only the chief figure in the matter, but also the
supreme personal force — yes, under God the efficient
cause of the wondrous changes which have been brought

THE CAREY EPOCH IN MISSIONS. 7I

to pass. We may speak of the ** Carey epoch " with
every whit as much propriety as of the Luther Reforma-
tion. We may as fitly term him the apostle of modern
missions as Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, or Ulphilas
the apostle to the Goths, or Augustine apostle to the
Britons, or Boniface apostle to the Germans.

A glance at such incidents of Carey's life as relate to
this sublime re-beginning is next in order. In 1761
a babe was born in central England gifted among other
things with a measureless and inextinguishable hunger
for knowledge, and a capacity seldom matched for end-
less plodding and hard work. And a will-power was
present able to push and persist without limit, but which
could not by any means be allured or driven from the
pursuit of any chosen object. To such royal qualities
were joined later a stalwart faith, and a zeal for right-
eousness so fervid and all-consuming that no difficulties
or discouragements could quench it. At seventeen we
find him a shoemaker's apprentice at Hackleton, nine
miles from his birthplace. Already he had commenced
the diligent study of birds, eggs, insects and plants, and
ere long had begun to delve deep into the mysteries of
Latin, Hebrew, Greek and French. And, early and
often, he was called to take lessons in the stern disci-
pline of life. When about twenty he was married to
one who was "querulous, capricious, obstinate," and
without sympathy with his most exalted life-aims, all
this perhaps in large part because of a predisposition to
mental disease. He passed also through a protracted
season of ill health, and besides for years was burdened
by the woes of extreme poverty. And further, when
the voice of the Lord began to call in clearest tones,
**Go preach the Gospel to the whole creation," year

72 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

after year he stood almost utterly alone in disposition to
obey.

It can not but be interesting and profitable to take note
of the various steps in the wondrous unfolding of the
Divine plan. This future hero for the kingdom of
heaven was well on towards manhood before his spiritual
nature was effectually and savingly aroused, and then,
reared as he had been in the Established Church, hear-
ing a sermon from the text ''Let us go forth unto him
without the camp bearing the reproach," he made a
direct personal application to himself, and with charac-
teristic decision and practical energy, went and joined a
little company of Baptists, because theirs was a faith
despised. Nor was it long before acceptable preaching
gifts began to appear. In 1 785 he became a member of
the Olney church, by which he was called to the work
of the ministry, and two years after was ordained as
pastor of the Moulton church, ten miles from Northamp-
ton, upon a salary of but ;£i5, of which ^5 came from
London. To eke out a living, school-teaching and shoe-
making were added to his occupations. It was while
here that his attention was first fixed upon the moral
desolations of the pagan world, and his heart began to
be deeply moved to hasten relief. The fact is estab-
lished that it was the reading of the voyages of Captain
Cook which brought this weighty theme to his notice,
'* though if ever an idea was originated in any man by
the Spirit of God, it was this idea of the evangelization
of the world." From boyhood books of science and
history and travel had been his delight, and now from
investigating the world's physical features, he turned
with all his might to an examination of the religious
condition of mankind. When Fuller once visited

THE CAREY EPOCH IN MISSIONS. 73

Carey's shop in Moulton he saw upon the wall near
where he sat at his work a roughly sketched map of the
world, upon which had been set in order all manner of
facts and figures, to picture to the eye what needed to
be done for the diffusion of the Gospel, the redemption
of the race. Already also had fuel been added to the
heavenly flame by a sermon of Fuller's upon '<The
Gospel Worthy of all Acceptation," which convinced
him that in spite of any hyper-Calvinistic teaching to
the contrary, it was the duty of all men to believe, and
what was even more to the point just now, the duty of
Christians to go everywhere telling the glad tidings to
all. A third impulse was supplied by a pamphlet of
Jonathan Edwards', published in 1747, and recently
reprinted in England, which exhorted God's people to
union in '* extraordinary prayer for the revival of religion
and the advancement of Christ's kingdom upon earth."
As a result of reading this, the Baptist ministers in North-
amptonshire set apart an hour for prayer on the first Mon-
day of each month, that the power of the Cross might soon
be displayed in the most distant parts of the habitable
globe. When with his brethren he could not but speak
frequently upon the all-absorbing theme, but found few
to listen with interest, while as for most he seemed to be
a dreamer, a teller of idle tales, one gone daft, his con-
clusions irrational, his plans impracticable, his longings
such as never could be met. Meantime his ministry
had been removed to Leicester.* It was a crisis in his
career, that day at the Association, when having been
urged by the moderator to name a subject for discussion,
after endeavoring to shun the responsibility, he finally
propounded this question, "Whether the command
given to the apostles to teach all nations was not obliga-

74 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

tory on all ministers, to the end of the world." And the
reply of the aged Ryland did but express the indifference
and unbelief of Christendom; "Sit down, young man.
You are a miserable enthusiast to ask such a question.
When God wants to convert the world, he can do it
without your help ; and at least nothing can be done
until a second Pentecost shall bring a return of the
miraculous gifts." As yet no one had begun to suspect
that here was a '* young man " already actually possessed
of the substance of that old-time enduement, even to the
speaking with tongues !

However, not in the least shaken in his purpose by
this rebuff and rebuke, the heroic subject thereof is pres-
ently found engaged upon the task of arguing and prov-
ing his case with his pen. That is, he put on paper
with remarkable clearness, fulness, and cogency, a tabular
statement of the size, population, religious condition,
etc., of the various countries in the Old World and the
New, and then went on to prove that the Lord's command
and commission were perpetual, to recite the efforts
which in each century had been put forth, and to demon-
strate the practicability of making further attempts. This
memorable presentment, so novel and so purely original
with Carey, which one of his biographers pronounces
the "first and still greatest missionary treatise in the
English language," closed with an appeal for united
prayer, and besides, since petition without suitable ef-
fort to match would •be but mockery, the gift regularly
from each one of a penny a week was suggested. As
another token of the current spiritual blindness and
apathy, for sheer lack of means to print, this pamphlet
lay for six years in manuscript and unread. But that
the precious leaven of missionary desire was spreading «

THE CAREY EPOCH IN MISSIONS. 75

is shown by the fact that at the Association meeting
held in 1791 the two preachers, Sutcliff and Fuller,
chose kindred themes; the former taking for his text
I. Kings 19:10, ** I have been very jealous for the Lord
God of hosts," and the latter from Haggai 1:2, ''This
people say. The time is not come that the Lord's house
should be built." Noticing how deep and solemn was
the impression produced by these discourses, Carey,
with whom action^ as a matter of course, must needs fol-
low hard upon the heels of knowledge and conviction,
proposed to begin at once to plan and to organize for
vigorous endeavor. But for the others the vision of
privilege and obligation was still too dim, and the ob-
jects aimed at were too indefinite and out of reach. And
so another year passed in maction.
• But May 31st, 1792, a date to be memorized by every
lover of the kingdom, came the life-opportunity for this
irrepressible agitator for the opening of a world-wide
evangelistic campaign. For the Baptist ministers are
found together again at Nottingham, and Carey has been
chosen to preach. Judged by its momentous and far-
reaching results his sermon must be considered one of
the very chiefest in Christian history, perhaps second
only to the Sermon on the Mount. With Isaiah 54:2-3
for a text, he proceeded to unfold the two matchless and
immortal subdivisions, ''Expect great things from God,"
and — eminently Carey-like from first to last — ^joining
untiring works to stalwart faith, "Attempt great things
for God." In that never-to-be-forgotten hour the con-
clusions, the convictions, the longings of years first found
full expression, and so, not strangely, the emotions of
those who listened were aroused to somewhat of sympa-
thy. But nevertheless, though hearts were swayed, and

76 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

some tears fell, the audience was about to separate with-
out open definite commitment to any " attempt " in be-
half of the fervid speaker's '' great things." So in an
agony of desire mingled with fear, Carey siezed Fuller
by the arm and exclaimed ; " Are you going to again do
nothing?" And it was then, as the latter admits, *' to
pacify him and also to gain time," that it was decided
to organize at a meeting to be held five months hence,
and Carey was counselled to publish his pamphlet in the
meantime. In due season came forth from the press
" An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use
Means for the Conversion of the Heathen, in which the
Religious State of the Different Nations of the World,
the Success of Former Undertakings, and the Prac-
ticability of Further Undertakings, are considered by
William Carey." •

In due season also, at Kettering in the back parlor of
the Widow Beebe Wallis, was formed the ''Particular
Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the
Heathen." How utterly insignificant were the actors
for number, or station, or gifts ! Only twelve, belong-
ing to a feeble and despised sect, and unheard of outside
of the interior counties in which they lived. Only one
London clergyman gave countenance to the movement.
Kings, statesmen, church-magnates cared nothing, knew
nothing. And they made a subscription on the spot for
the world's conversion, which amounted to ;£i2 2s. 6d.,
over which the brilliant Sydney Smith made merry years
after, for its preposterous inadequacy when the souls of
420,000,000 were concerned. Indeed, how sublime was
that act of faith, that venture far beyond the realm of
sight. How exceedingly remote were the heathen, and
what an uncounted host. The undertaking was vast be-

THE CAREY EPOCH IN MISSIONS. 77

yond conception, and the issue exceedingly doubtful. It
was like crossing the Rubicon, like nailing the theses to
the church doors, putting forth from Palos upon the
untraversed sea, or burning the ships to make retreat im-
possible. However, it was easy enough to resolve, and
to adopt a constitution and by-laws, and not so very dif-
ficult to subscribe, but after that came the real tug of
war. The pertinent and very practical question was
next to be answered, ''Who shall be sent forth, and
whither in all the pagan world shall they journey?"
Carey offered himself as a candidate on the sole condition
that a companion be found to go with him, and his
thought had long been centered upon the South Seas
and the Society Islands as the most eligible spot for a
beginning. A committee was chosen to investigate and
decide, and was not left long to wait, for the pillar of fire
soon began to rise and move forward. By " accident "
a certain John Thomas, surgeon in the employ of the
East India Company, in Bengal since 1783, converted
there and led to engage in evangelistic work in behalf of
the Hindus, had recently returned, and was now in
London endeavoring to raise money for further efforts.
He was heard of, and was sent for, and finally was in-
vited to return under the auspices of the new society
with Carey as associate. Thus did the divine hand
guide this master-missionary to make assault, not upon
one of the comparatively unimportant outworks of
heathenism, but directly upon one of the mightiest of
its central strongholds.

• But trials and tribulations in plenty were yet in
store. The Leicester church was loath to lose its be-
loved pastor, and touchingly alleged, "We have been
praying for the spread of Christ's kingdom among the

7$ A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

heathen, and now God requires us to make the first
sacrifice." Next Carey's wife, having no sort of appre-
ciation for his life-aims, utterly refused to share the risks
and hardships involved in carrying them out. And
though the idea cost pain unspeakable, for weeks im-
perative duty appeared to compel him to set forth
alone, leaving her behind, at least for a season. Then
too India was 15,000 miles away; the East India Com-
pany was in full possession, no Englishman could land
upon its shores without a license, while as for mis-
sionaries, they were held in fear and abomination, the
gospel being "a. contraband article" in those climes.
After the utmost of influence had been brought to bear
upon the directors, it became evident that no license
was to be obtained ; and therefore, recalling that the
apostles did not wait for permission from Caesar, or any
earthly authority, our hero resolved to set forth without
the consent of the Company and take the consequences.
Then the climax of embarrassment and discouragement
was connected with Thomas. In most respects he was
but a weak vessel, and among the rest, had an amazing
proclivity for being always overwhelmingly in debt.
Through his influence with the captain, passage had
been surreptitiously engaged upon one of the Company's
ships, the fare had been paid, and the baggage put on
board. But delayed long by storms under the Isle of
Wight, one of Thomas' creditors hearing of their
design to proceed to India without leave, sent a commu-
nication to the captain threatening exposure. Hence
the missionaries were put ashore, with the loss of the
bulk of their passage money. But fortunately a few
days after a Danish East Indiaman lay in Dover Roads
(here again did Denmark through her settlements in the

THE CAREY EPOCH IN MISSIONS. 79

east unwittingly do an important service to Christian
missions), upon which transportation was secured, and
at the last moment visiting his erratic wife, Mrs. Carey-
consented to accompany him, only stipulating that a
sister might also go.

It was June 13th, 1793, that the departure was finally
made, and they set sail upon a voyage so pregnant with
consequences to Christianity unspeakably great, and five
months later landed in Calcutta, and on the 9th of
November.

Of course the passage of these events produced
scarcely a ripple upon the surface of the social, or
political, or even religious world, were almost altogether
unnoticed and unknown. And not many historians even
yet make the slightest mention of them. In those days
the tremendous stir over the American Revolution was
quieting down, but only to be succeeded by the vastly
more fearful commotion from across the English Chan-
nel. It will be instructive to set down a few dates
which locate what many would still deem the notable
happenings of the period. In 1789 first burst forth the
volcano of the French Revolution, and July 9th the
Bastile fell. June 20th, 1791, King Louis XVI. fled
from Paris. August i8th of the next year, a few weeks
after Carey's immortal sermon, the Invasion of France
by the allies began, and the next month followed the
September Massacres, and the Republic was proclaimed.
January 21st, 1793, the king ascended the scaffold;
March nth the Revolutionary Tribunal was set up and
the Reign of Terror was inaugurated ; and June 2nd, a
fortnight before Carey sailed, the Girondists fell ; and
as he was nearing his destination the hapless Marie
Antoinette met her fate, the Girondists following hard

8o A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

after. As God, and angels, and glorified saints esti-
mate human affairs, who will dare affirm that the
Hackleton cobbler's part in history is not in every way
worthy to be compared with that of Chatham and
Napoleon, George III. and Burke, Mirabeau and La
Fayette ?

CHAPTER X.

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL.

Before proceeding further with the thrilling story of
the notable renewal and expansion of missionary en-
deavor, which set in almost from Carey's sublime vent-
ure, it will be of value to put in a paragraph a summary
of what the whole of Protestant Christendom was doing
at that date for the whole of heathendom. And first as
to the religious condition of the earth's population,
quoting the language of his famous " Enquiry" : ''The
inhabitants of the world amount to 731,000,000; 420,-
000,000 of whom are still in pagan darkness ; 130,000,-
000 the followers of Mahomet ; 100,000,000 catholics;
44,000,000 protestants ; 30,000,000 of the greek and
armenian churches, and perhaps 7,000,000 of jews. It
must undoubtedly strike every considerate mind, what
a vast proportion of the sons of Adam there are, who
yet remain in the most deplorable state of heathen
darkness, without any means of knowing the true God,
except what are afforded them by the works of nature ;
and utterly destitute of the knowledge of Christ, or of
any means of obtaining it. In many of these countries
they have no written language, consequently no Bible,
and are led only by the most childish customs and tra-
ditions," etc., etc. Now, to meet and improve this
most lamentable and appalling condition, what endeav-
ors can we discover ? Well, the Moravians were carrying
on missions with some fair degree of success in Green-

81

82 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

land, Labrador, in the West Indies, and Surinam, had
once begun work in South Africa, had been driven out,
and in the year of Carey's great sermon had sent an-
other force. Besides Zeisberger and a few associates
were still toiling under incredible hardships and dis-
couragements among the Delawares, and after various
removals, and one wholesale massacre of their innocent
converts, were now for safety in Canada. The Danish-
Halle mission had pushed in all directions from Tran-
quebar, had received cheering support from Denmark,
Germany and England, had enjoyed a period of pros-
perity, but at present for several reasons, was in the
midst of a steady and lasting decline. Schwartz had
before him yet six years of life. In 1757 Kiernander
had gone thence to Calcutta to open a mission in that
city and was still doing his utmost to advance the Gospel
among both natives and Europeans. As other earnest
Christians, whose hearts were engaged and whose hands
were busy, may be named Mr. Udney, Charles Grant and
David Brown of the East India Company, the latter a
chaplain. Scarcely a trace was left of Eliot's work for the
Indians except his Bible, the last of five generations of
Mayhewswas ministering to a feeble remnant of a single
tribe. On account of the excitements and passions re-
sulting from the French War, and the Revolution, mis-
sionary toil for the aborigines had almost entirely ceased.
And finally, as recently as 1786, Coke, while on a voy-
age to Nova Scotia, having been driven by a terrible
storm far to the southward and making land first in An-
tigua, was led to start a mission upon that island.
Something such was the situation, and the outlook,
when Carey and Thomas left England behind, and
turned their faces resolutely towards India. But note

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL. 83

the sublime audacity of faith which prompted this
dauntless apostle to write while in mid- ocean : ''I hope
the society will go on and increase, and that the multi-
tudes of heathen in the world may hear the glorious
words of truth. Africa is but a little way from Eng-
land, Madagascar is but a little further. South Amer-
ica and all the numerous and large islands in the Indian
and China Seas, I hope will not be passed over." And
this also a few months later when the very blackness of
darkness seemed to have settled down : " Well, I have
God, and his word is sure ; and though the superstitions
of the heathen were a million times worse than they are,
if I were deserted by all, and persecuted by all, yet my
hope, fixed on that word, will rise superior to all ob-
structions, and triumph over all trials, God's cause will
triumph, and I shall come out of all trials as gold puri-
fied by the fire."

With such a spirit inspiring and propelling the leader,
no wonder that something great in the way of results
began presently to appear. But nevertheless, these words
of George Smith are true : ** The first two English mis-
sionaries to India seemed, to those who sent them forth,
to have disappeared forever. For fourteen months no
tidings of their welfare reached the poor praying people of
the midlands, who had been emboldened to begin the
enterprise." But July 29th, 1794, letters arrived for
Ryland, of Bristol, who read them and sent at once
for Dr. Bogue, of Gosport, an Independent clergyman,
and Mr. Stephen, to rejoice with him. First they all
gave thanks and prayed for a blessing upon the Baptist
Society, and then the two latter called upon Mr. Hey, a
prominent minister, and it was determined to begin im-
mediately to agitate for the organization of a similar

84 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

society, though with a much broader ecclesiastical basis.
Suiting the action to the word, Dr. Bogue prepared an
article, which in September appeared in the Eva7igelical
Magazi?iey addressed to '' Evangelical dissenters who
practise infant baptism," urging all such to bestir them-
selves ; arguing that the time had fully come to begin ;
expressing the conviction that many would be found
willing and eager to assist, if only a few would step forth
to lead, and that funds sufficient could be gathered to
support at least twenty or thirty missionaries. So Carey's
letters and this article in God's hands proved to be the
*' little fire " which kindled " how great a matter."

The effect of this clarion call was immediate, and pro-
found, and wide-spread. The next month it was
further stated in the same periodical that, if a society
should be formed upon a large scale, and a basis so
broad as to unite Christians ** without respect to differ-
ent denominations, or repulsive distinctions arising from
points in dispute between Calvinists and Arminians,"
one man stood pledged for ;£ioo, and another for ^£500,
to equip the first six volunteers for a mission to the South
Seas. Some weeks later appeared the suggestion over the
signatures of eighteen Independent, seven Presbyterian,
three Wesleyan, and three Episcopal ministers, for a
meeting for consultation, urging that in the meantime local
and district gatherings be held to excite interest, collect
funds, and choose delegates. In July, 1795, another
article reached the public from the glowing pen of *'T.
H." [Haweis, a Church of England clergyman, whose
influence through the years next ensuing was unequalled
in raising enthusiasm and moving to effort,] ''showing
the very probable success of a proper mission to the
South Seas," giving a long, and glowing, and intensely

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL. 85

rose-colored setting-forth of the situation in those remote
parts, proving conclusively the islands to be a very ter-
restrial paradise, and the people thereof the loving and
lovable innocent children of nature !

Then at length, all things being ready, September
2ist, the illustrious meetings began in London. At the
outset subscriptions were made by the country ministers
amounting to ;£75o. Many encouraging letters from
all parts of the island were read ; it was announced that
several men were ready to offer themselves as pioneers
in the work ; and the vote was unanimous to organize
at once. This "fundamental principle," which still
remains in the constitution of the London Society, was
adopted : " The design is not to send Presbyterianism,
Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of church
order and government (about which there may be dif-
ference of opinion among serious persons), but the glorious
Gospel of the blessed God to the heathen ; and it shall
be left (as it ought to be) to the minds of the persons
whom God shall call into the fellowship of his Son
from among them to assume for themselves such forms
of church government as to them shall appear most
agreeable to the Word of God." Through three full
blissful days the meetings continued, with two sermons
each day from eminent divines upon pertinent themes,
and to audiences " immensely great." It seemed like a
new Pentecost ** with Christians of all denominations
for the first time in the same place, using the same
hymns and prayers, and feeling themselves to be one."
Two hundred ministers sat together in the galleries;
and Dr. Bogue said : ** We are called together for the
funeral of bigotry ; and I hope it will be buried so deep
as never to rise again." Whereat ** the whole vast body

86 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

could scarce refrain from one general shout of joy . . ,
Such a scene was never, perhaps, before beheld in our
world ; and it was a foretaste of heaven. . . . We shall
account it through eternity a distinguished favor, the
highest honor, that we appeared here and gave in our
names among the founders of the society. This will be
ever remembered by us as the era of Christian benevo-
lence."

The heavenly flame thus kindled in the metropolis
quickly spread throughout all Britain, and it followed,
of course, that money in abundance began to flow in
from all quarters. One church in Southampton sub-
scribed jQ'2']o, and from Market Harborough came
^£83 IS. yd., with this word: *'No event in life has
given me more pleasure than this glorious attempt to
send forth the gospel." The children in a boarding-
school, unasked, gave ^1 9s. 6d. Scotland also caught
the evangelistic fervor, missionary societies were soon
formed in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and before many
months had passed, some ;£i 2,000 had been forwarded
to London. This novel idea of missions to the whole
wide world took such complete possession of Robert
Haldane that he planned a vast mission to Bengal, of
which he was to meet the entire cost, proposing to go
out himself and securing Dr. Bogue as an associate.
And when the East India Company refused their consent
to the scheme, turning his beneficence into channels
nearer at hand, with his brother James he formed the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home, and
within twelve years expended in connection with it the
princely sum of ^£70,000. Nor did the tide of holy
zeal fail to cross the Channel and arouse the saints upon
the Continent, whose contributions ere long rose to

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL. 87

^1,500. It came to pass that by the end of October
the directors had ;!^3,ooo in hand, which was more than
doubled three months later, and in June of 1796 they
report the receipts as ;2^io,ooo. Missionaries had also
oifered themselves in encouraging numbers. By mid-
summer it was decided to purchase a ship and to open
missions at once in Otaheite, the Friendly and Pelew
Islands, and the Marquesas, with projects besides look-
ing towards Madagascar, the West Indies, and the north
shore of the Caspian ! So great was their faith, and so
enlarged were their ideas and longings. And thus
early the prophetic hope was expressed that this uprising
for the world's redemption ''will spread to every Chris-
tian bosom, to the Dutch, German, American, and all
Protestant churches, till the whole professing world shall
burn with fervent love, and labor to spread in every
heathen land the sweet savor of the Redeemer's name.'*
Accordingly, the Duff was purchased at a cost of
;^4,875, and was furnished for her voyage to the antip-
odes at an additional expense of more than ;£7,ooo,
several years' supplies for the missionaries included. A
profit of ;^5,ooo was expected from freight to be brought
upon the homeward trip. A call was made and nobly
responded to, for books, tools, cooking utensils, instru-
ments, seeds and other supplies ; and one poor man
expended ^2 2s. upon six spades, nine hammers and
four thousand sixpenny and tenpenny nails. July 28th
the twenty-nine persons who had been chosen as
missionaries were solemnly set apart to the high calling —
six of them being married, ojily four of the member
ordainedy one a physician, two children, and the others
artisans. Thousands joined in the novel and most im-
pressive service, and no less than ten clergymen, repre-

88 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

senting Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, Sece-
ders and Wesleyans, joining in the public exercises,
** showing that affection is increasing between ministers
of different denonainations, who, previous to this institu-
tion, had neither fellowship nor intercourse." In refer-
ence to the religious situation it was written soon after :
'' In no instance in the limits of our recollection has such
a spirit of prayer and supplication been poured out upon
the churches, or such general approbation been dis-
covered. The greatest kindness has been displayed in
all departments of the government. Neither the
Council Board nor the Custom House would accept
fees." Wednesday, August loth, 1796, at five A. M.,
the Duff dropped down from Blackall to Gravesend, a
vast multitude beholding, and came to anchor at Spit-
head the Tuesday following. The East India convoy
having already sailed, she was compelled (since the
French wars were then raging) to wait six weeks at
Portsmouth for the Adamant, a fifty-two gun ship.
September 22nd found her at St. Helen's. The day
after her anchors were finally hoisted, and her sails were
spread for the ends of the earth. Thus the great under-
taking followed in Carey's path, indeed three years and
a half later than he, and yet in some respects at least,
far outdoing tliat peerless founder and pioneer. It was
at this juncture that one moralized with altogether par-
donable exaltation of feeling : '' It is highly probable
that since the Lord and the apostles, the bosom of the
deep has never been graced with such a vessel," or one
*' in which so many thousands of Christians embarked
their hopes and followed with their prayers."

What remarkable growth may be discerned during the
brief period under view. How different all this, for the

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL. 89

number and variety and standing of those interested, for
magnitude of operations and for eclat, from the deed of
those twelve obscure Northamptonshire Baptist ministers
with their ridiculously inadequate subscription, and the
almost insuperable obstacles which to the last moment
hedged up the way of Carey and Thomas. For nearly
two years, until May, 1798, not a word was heard from
Captain Wilson and the tremendous venture made by
faith. Leaving the Duff to battle for weeks with fearful
storms off Cape Horn, and then, baffled, facing about to
beat her way past the Cape of Good Hope through 262 de-
grees of longitude, let us glance at certain steps of progress
meantime taken at home. Measures were immediately
taken to start a second mission in the Foulah country,
some two hundred and fifty miles from Sierra Leone, for
which Edinburgh and Glasgow offered to supply two
men each, and the London Society was to add the same
number. Plans were also laid for a mission in Cape
Colony, which had recently been transferred from Hol-
land to Great Britain. In January, 1797, it could be
affirmed concerning the religious fervor resulting far and
wide: '* Christians in every corner of the land are
meeting in a regular manner, and pouring out their souls
for God's blessing on the world." And again : *'The
efforts most successfully made to introduce the Gospel
to the South Seas have had a most powerful tendency to
unite the devoted servants of Christ of every denomina-
tion in the bonds of brotherly love, and to awaken zeal
to help the perishing multitudes in our own country, and
also the Jews." So early was the discovery made that
the best possible way to forward the work of evangeliza-
tion at home is to push missions abroad with all ardor
and energy. Month by month came tidings of both

^ A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

local and district movements to raise missionary funds,
and to multiply toilers, both at many points in the heathen
world, and in every destitute region where the gospel is
already known. For this purpose scores of organiza-
tions were formed in every denomination. Similar
interest sprang up in America ; in Massachusetts and
Connecticut, in New York and Philadelphia, and in
various other parts of the Union. Nor was the enthusi-
asm less upon the Continent, for in Germany, Holland,
Sweden, and Switzerland societies were organized. With
all these, as well as with various individuals of influence,
the directors of the London Society, the main center
and source of the unprecedented outburst of faith and
love and good works, opened correspondence for mutual
instruction and encouragement. Among the rest Von
Schirnding, a German nobleman, was delighted to hear
of the evangelizing projects on foot ; for years he had
been cherishing similar schemes, and would aid liberally
with money and men. And Vanderkemp, in Holland,
a famed soldier, scholar, and physician, and aforetime
a pronounced sceptic, offered himself as a messenger of
glad tidings to the heathen, though past fifty years of
age, and proceeded to organize the Netherlands Mission-
ary Society. By the sudden death of his wife and only
child by drowning he had forever lost his infidelity to
the last fraction, had come across a copy of the report
of the great London meeting containing the sermons and
addresses, etc., and one text, ** Curse ye Meroz,"
entered his soul. Falling on his knees he cried : ''O
Lord Jesus, here am I. Thou knowest I have no will of
my own since I devoted myself to thy service. Prevent
me only from doing this great work in a carnal, self-
sufficient spirit, and lead me in the right way." Lispir-

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL. 9 1

ing letters came too from Basle, which since 1771 had
been the seat of a wide-spread movement *' to maintain
evangelical doctrine and piety." Certain devout Ger-
man brethren sent their congratulations couched in these
glowing words : ** It is like the dawn promising the
beautiful day after the dark night. It is the beginning
of a new epoch for the kingdom of God on earth. Your
undertaking and its success fills our hearts with joy and
our eyes with tears. The history of Great Britain is
sanctified by this unparalleled mission. What harmony
among different persuasions ! You call on the wise and
good of every nation to take interest in the work and
bear a part. Such a call was never heard of before. It
was reserved for the close of the eighteenth century to
be distinguished by it." And thus it was that the tide
of zeal rose and spread abroad.

The first tidings from the precious missionary ship
arrived in May of 1798, in a letter from Captain Wilson
written at Canton six months before, and in July follow-
ing the Duff lay at anchor in the Downs. Now natur-
ally came the climax of exultation and buoyant hope.
''Never, perhaps, was an undertaking more com-
pletely accomplished. Fifty-one thousand miles have
been traversed without the least material loss or damage.
The winds conspired to waft them safely and swiftly to
their desired haven. Everywhere they were received by
the natives with reverence and delight. All are settled
in the islands they preferred, and apparently in the
greatest safety. At Otaheite a most fertile district was
bestowed upon them, and a commodious building." In
a public address to Captain Wilson, Dr. Haweis did not
fail to surpass the most fervid and fanciful in his por-
trayal of the past, present and future of the mission.

92 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

But the directors well understood that something
besides paeans of gladness were in order, and therefore,
immediately after a day of special thanksgiving had been
devoutly observed, they met to plan both how to main-
tain communications with the brethren already sent out,
and also to open other fields for toil. Their faith and
courage hesitated not to scan an evangelistic campaign
in behalf of the kingdom as extensive as this : *' Hin-
dustan, the Sandwich Islands, and other groups of the
Pacific ; the Creek Indians, Canada, the Bermudas, and
any West India islands, and any coasts of America or
Asia." And presently they notify the churches : '* We
must have an enlarged supply of money and men. We
expect a body of German missionaries, and we plan to
engage a great company and teach them both theologi-
cal knowledge and also occupations adapted to the
islands." But just now all their energies were concen-
trated-upon preparing for a second voyage of the Duff,
with Captain Robson in command. By November 13th
forty-six were in readiness — nineteen single men and ten
married, with seven children — -and were separated for
the work whereunto they had been called. On the 20th
the Duff dropped down the Thames, and ten days later
weighed anchor. But December 8th found her with
seventy ships at Spithead, where on account of fogs she
lay over two Sundays; on the 21st a south-west wind
was so fierce that the fleet put into Portland Roads, and
a day or two afterwards was off and out of sight under
convoy of the frigate Amphio7i. In the same company
sailed the Hillsborough, bearing some hundreds of con-
victs bound for New South Wales, and also Dr. Vander-
kemp and three companions, en route to preach to the
Hottentots in South Africa. These devoted men pre-

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL. 93

ferred to voyage on this ship filled with the worst of
criminals, in order that during the five months of the
passage they might have opportunity to labor for their
salvation.

Hitherto, for five years together, the flood of good
feeling and expectation of large results had been steadily
swelling with scarce a refluent wave. Not a threaten-
ing storm-cloud had crossed the sky. But, of course,
such encouraging conditions could not always continue.
God's way with his kingdom is not after this fashion.
As might have been expected, and as was on every
account best for all concerned, a series of trials and
searching tests now ensued in the shape of serious re-
verses, and failures apparently most disastrous, coming
from various quarters, of divers kinds, and dropping
down in quick succession. The current emotion, though
mainly noble and Christian, contained also not a little
of unhealthy excitement. Zeal was all aflame, but was
not wholly according to knowledge, while many of the
expectations most fondly cherished were unreasonable,
and without basis in fact. The Millennium had not
yet dawned, the victory over heathenism and savagery,
even in the charming South Seas, was not to be won
without a fight long and most arduous. It had already
been noticed, and with deepest solicitude, that scarcely
a clergyman, and not one of note and influence, had
offered himself to go wherever the Lord through the
Society should please to send him. Those who volun-
teered were, with few exceptions, laymen from the hum-
bler walks of life, without learning, of but common gifts
and attainments. And even these had not been sifted
with sufficient care, quite a number proved incompe-
tent, and some even morally unworthy. Trouble broke

94 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

out in the company which had been despatched to the
Foulah country. They separated in alienation, some
died, and war breaking out among the savages, others
left and so the mission came utterly to grief. Next,
early in August, 1799, the directors were stunned with
the intelligence that the Duff had been captured by a
French privateer when off Rio Janeiro, and had been
taken to Montevideo and sold as a prize. The mis-
sionaries would be sent home, but the money loss was
^10,000. Then on the heels of these evil tidings, came
the further calamitous news from Otaheite that most
of the missionaries who had been left there had fled the
island, their lives seeming to be in danger, and by a
chance vessel had been carried to Port Jackson in New
South Wales, this long journey also entailing large
expense. Likewise at Tongabatoo catastrophe had
befallen, for some had died, some had fallen into shame-
ful lewdness with the natives and had been cut off from
fellowship, and finally civil war had broken out, in which
the brethren had been first robbed, and then expelled.
Only from Vanderkemp and his Hottentots arrived
words of cheer. He was able to write that he had
made a beginning, and that a ** singular interest " had
appeared. The ** Spirit had begun a good work in some
of the most abject and uncultured of the race." But
there was no flinching or turning back in consequence.
Without a moment's hesitation, either on the part of
directors, or of the Christian public, the task was reso-
lutely taken up of repairing the damage, and of sending
reinforcements to the South Seas and to South Africa.
By May of 1800, a contingent of sixteen men had been
forwarded to the front.
The thrilling story will for the present be suspended

THE GREAT MISSIONARY REVIVAL. 95

of the London Society, whose beginnings were so glor-
ious, as well of such incalculable importance both to
Christendom and to the whole heathen world. It was
not long after the hopes of so many of the earnest-
hearted had been so rudely hurled from the zenith to the
nadir, that they began again slowly and steadily to rise.
Only the South Seas proved to be no sinless, stormless
Eden, and their inhabitants turned out to be exactly of
a piece with savages elsewhere. Many reverses were
yet in store, and long and tedious waiting for the pre-
cious fruits of toil was to be required. Early in this
century India, China and the West Indies were entered,
Madagascar, that shining marvel among missions, in
18 18. And these immortal names among others are
found upon the list of those sent out by this honored
society : Ellis and Livingstone, Morrison and Milne,
Medhurst and Moffat, Vanderkemp, and John Williams
the martyr of Erromanga.

No mortal can tell just how many missions, both in
the Old World and the New, owe their birth either di-
rectly or indirectly to that astonishing evangelistic re-
vival in the last decade of the eighteenth century,
which under God originated vastly more with Carey
than with any other man, and of which the London
Society was not only one of the most remarkable effects,
but also in no inconsiderable measure the cause. As we
have seen, in its organization several denominations
were heartily united, and it seemed to some that the end
of bigotry and sectarian division had arrived. But
presently the process of withdrawal began, and contin-
ued until the Independents were left practically alone.
The Episcopalians led the way in 1799 by forming what
now is the Church Missionary Society, one of whose

g6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

fundamental rules has been from the first : *' A friendly
intercourse shall be maintained with other Protestant
Societies engaged in the same benevolent design of prop-
agating the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'* One of the most
serious defects in the period is seen in the fact that for
many years no clergymen of the Church of England
offered their services, and the only missionaries to be
obtained were German Lutherans from the training in-
stitutions of Berlin and Basle. Among the earlier soci-
eties to be formed substantially upon the pattern set by
Carey these may be named : In 1804 the British and
Foreign Bible Society; in 1810 the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions ; the Baptist Mis-
sionary Union in 1814; the Basle Society in 18 15 ; the
Wesleyan Society in 1816; the Paris Society in 1822;
the Berlin Society in 1824; and the Church of Scot-
land in 1829. The number has increased at the average
rate of nearly three a year, until now, a century after
the Deed of the Twelve in the back parlor of Widow
Beebe Wallis, if all be included, whether denominational
or individual, general or special, it surpasses three
hundred.

CHAPTER XI.

. THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA.

With all this kindling of interest, and enlargement
of effort for the world's redemption in Protestant
Europe, what was there in the meantime to match upon
the other side of the Atlantic? Some two hundred
years ago a tide of colonization had set this way, and
by the last decade of the eighteenth century several
millions were found settled within the limits of the
United States. But in the main, in the midst of wilder-
ness depths, interminable and appalling, with a vast con-
tinent to subdue, including forests, soil, wild beasts, and
savage tribes. Emigration is always, and of necessity,
a step towards primitive rudeness, if not barbarism.
The early generations endured poverty, severest toil,
great exposure to the elements and to mortal peril, and
wide-spread demoralization resulted. The settlements
were small, widely scattered, stretching along the coast
for a thousand miles. The population was divided up
into colonies which were distinct, independent, with
little in common, and often jealous rivals. Besides,
wars had been frequent with the Indians, the French,
and finally with the mother country, and attended with
measureless excitement of evil passion, and deadening
of spiritual fervor. Then too a profound reaction was
in progress against the stringency of Puritan belief and
practice, while the churches were suffering, like Prot-
estantism in the Old World, from rationalism and dead

97

98 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

orthodoxy, to which was added near the close of the
century the further blight produced by French infidel-
ity.

To complete a survey of the situation, it is necessary
also to recall the fact that American Christians had no
immediate contact with the heathen world through
colonies and resulting commerce, but were widely iso-
lated. To be sure, there were a few thousand Indians
at their doors, and to these at the first the gospel had
been carried, with at least some measure of earnestness ;
but after some generations of experience of the toma-
hawk and the scalping knife, hate, or at least indiffer-
ence, had taken the place of love, and in addition these
troublesome pagans had largely disappeared from the
region lying to the east of the Appalachians. And
finally, as emigration began to the Great West, the burn-
ing religious question related to home missions. Great
populations were in the greatest spiritual destitution, and
these were their brethren, their dear friends, their sons
and daughters. Naturally, and not improperly, their
first thought, and the bulk of their beneficence, were
bestowed upon the needy frontier. And surely, upon
no other body of churches was so appalling a task ever
imposed as upon those of the United States, which must
needs help to subdue a continent, and spread over it the
social and political institutions of a mighty Republic,
and also diffuse and maintain a pure gospel throughout
all the boundless spaces from ocean to ocean. And,
whatever the causes may have been, the fact is patent
that at the time Carey was agitating and undertaking
in Great Britain, the churches in America were utterly
idle and asleep as touching any form of evangelizing
effort for the great world lying in wickedness. Eliot

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. 99

and the Mayhews were still held in loving and reverent
remembrance, as also Edwards for his work for the In-
dians at Stockbridge. His stirring call to a monthly-
concert of prayer had had a wide circulation, and
churches not a few had met at stated times for united
supplication. The life of David Brainerd by Edwards
was a source of continual inspiration to thousands. But
just now in missions, as in so many other realms, the
old had passed away, old ideas, old methods, old instru-
mentalities, and the new and better which were to take
their place were just coming into being.

At the beginning of the present century the idea of
world-wide missions, the evangelization of the entire
race, had not begun to dawn upon the consciousness of
American Christians. Though for sixty years the Mora-
vians had been bearing the glad tidings to distant lands ;
though Ziegenbalg, and Schwartz, and Carey, and Van-
derkemp had been preaching Christ to the perishing in
India and Africa ; and though already in Great Britain
several missionary societies had been formed, still on
this side of the Atlantic, even among the most earnest-
hearted, to not a soul came overwhelming solicitude,
conviction, and longing, in keeping with the Lord's last
command. Hitherto the best efforts had been individual,
unsystematic, sporadic and transient. As yet there had
been no attempt at coming together in combination
and co-operation, to fashion some comprehensive and
far-reaching scheme to carry the light far and wide
through all the desolate lands of darkness. The nearest
approach to the founding of a foreign mission had been
made in 1774, when Ezra Stiles and Samuel Hopkins,
New England Congregationalists, laid before the Presby-
terian Synod of New York a proposition to send two

lOO A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

natives of Africa, who had been converted and were now
in the College of New Jersey, *' on a mission to propa-
gate Christianity in their own country," and requesting
approval and assistance. The Synod replied : ' ' We
are ready to concur and do all that is proper, since many
circumstances intimate it is the will of God." The
Presbyterians of Scotland were similarly appealed to, but
this promising undertaking to carry the gospel to the
Dark Continent, in which three divisions of the Chris-
tian Church were ready to unite, was prevented by the
breaking out of the Revolutionary War. In 1802 the
Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was organized
'' to promote the knowledge of evangelical truth in new
settlements of the United States, or further, t/ circimi-
stances should re7ider it proper ; ' ' and two years later
the Massachusetts (Congregational) Missionary Society
changed its constitution so as to read : " Among people
of newly settled and remote parts, among the Indians,
and through more distant regions as circumstances in-
vite and ability admits." The horizon is evidently re-
ceding, the spiritual vision has a broader sweep, but for
some years to come almost all movements towards organ-
ization will be but local, or bounded by state lines.
The real Union, the nation, had not come into exist-
ence.

The fact is patent that missions in America were an
outgrowth almost direct from missions in Great Britain —
though of course at the same time various causative
forces, mighty although less visible, were operating
throughout Christendom — so that William Carey was the
father of the former as well as of the latter. In spite of
the violent sundering which had recently taken place
between the colonies and the mother country, the rela-

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. lOl

tions still existing were at many points most intimate,
and especially upon the intellectual and religious side.
Great movements starting across the sea were quickly
known and deeply felt here also. Consequently,
when the English Baptists launched forth in their sub-
lime endeavor, and when soon after Carey sailed for
Calcutta, the New World also was looking on with
wonder and admiration. In particular, the Baptists of
this country were eager watchers. Dr. Staughton, later
a pastor in Philadelphia, had heard Carey's famous
sermon, and like all the auditors was stirred to the
depths ; he was present too at the organization in Ket-
tering, and into the collection cast a half-guinea
borrowed for the purpose, ever after declaring that he
'* rejoiced more over it than over any other sum he ever
gave in his life." Letters and missionary reports sent
by English Baptists were quite extensively circulated.
And, since Carey with all his stalwart faith in God, was
also a stanch believer in the efficacy of vigorous and
uninterrupted good works, and hence among the rest
was a most indefatigable letter writer, information and
exhortation were poured forth in all directions from his
prolific pen. Thus communications not a few reached
New England and the Middle States, were read with
interest, and as a result, considerable sums of money
were forwarded to Serampore. In 1806-7 he acknowl-
edges the receipt of ^6000, and says: ''The Lord has
wonderfully stirred the whole religious world of every
denomination to favor our work and contribute to a large
amount ; and our American friends have special claims
on our gratitude in this respect." And further in 181 1,
through the action of the Boston Baptist Association,
^4650 were contributed by persons of different denom-

I02 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

inations in eastern Massachusetts, to aid in carrying
forward his numerous translations of the Scriptures into
Asiatic languages. Hence the assertion is abundantly
justified that *'we are indebted to those pioneers for the
example which gave a powerful impulse to missions by
arousing the interest and embodying the efforts of all
denominations."

But an impulse vastly greater was imparted three
years later, when the London Missionary Society leaped
forth suddenly into vigorous life. Says Rev. Kiah
Bailey: *'In 1797 Rev. Alexander McLean, of Bristol,
Maine, received from Scotland the sermons of Dr.
Haweis and others preached at the organization, was
charmed by reading them, and loaned the pamphlet to
me. I took the pamphlet to Newburyport, where it was
soon reprinted and read with avidity by various others,
and among them by the Rev. Samuel Worcester, who
thus caught the sacred flame. And so w^as started the
rill which led to the river " (the formation of the Amer-
ican Board). In 1796 a society was organized in New
York in which Presbyterians, Baptists and Reformed
(Dutch) were united, and monthly meetings were held
to pray that "the God of grace would pour out His
Spirit on His Church and send the Gospel to all
nations." By 1807 five societies had been established
in Massachusetts alone to propagate Christianity, and
similar ones in all the New England States, with some
also in the Middle States. During the first five years of
the century these periodicals were started, and com-
bined to gather and to scatter missionary intelligence
from the Old World : the Connecticut Evangelical Mag-
azine, the Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, the
Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Magazine, the Pano-

THE GENESIS OF MtSSIONS IN AMERICA. 103

plist, and the (Presbyterian) Religious Intelligencer. In
1804 the Massachusetts Society chose the president of
the London Society an honorary trustee. It was during
this same period that Melville Home's ^'Letters on
Missions," and Claudius Buchanan's *' Star in the
East " were published and produced a surprising sensa-
tion. In addition, the churches began to be moved by
missionary discourses as never before. Upon the Gen-
eral Assembly in 1806 Dr. Griffin *• urged the claims of
the heathen and the greatness and excellence of mission-
ary work with an eloquence and earnestness seldom, if
ever, surpassed." The next year, Parish, before the
Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, dwelt upon
" the growing conviction of the value of Christianity;
and so it was a good time to send missionaries to every
nation." In 1808 the General Assembly appointed a
day of fasting and prayer to beseech '' God to bless the
efforts of His people to Christianize the heathen and to
extend the Gospel." The same year, in Cambridge,
Holmes hailed "the approaching day when idols would
be cast to the moles and bats, and all false faiths be super-
seded by the glorious Gospel of God." Only a few
days before the American Board came into being, at the
annual meeting of the Massachusetts Society, Norton
had the boldness to inquire: ''Is the expectation vis-
ionary and unfounded that the time is not far distant
when from the United States, missionaries will go forth to
every region of the globe, accompanied with the fervent
prayers of thousands?" Finally, as early as 1806,
Norris, of Salem, had given $10,000 to found Andover
Theological Seminary, and declared, " My object is the
foreign mission enterprise, for we must have ministers if
we are to have missionaries." Thus it becomes abund-

I04 A HUNDRkD YEARS OF MISSIONS.

antly evident that the Spirit of the Most High was work-
ing upon many hearts, and that something notable was
at hand.

These were but some of the preliminary and prepara-
tory steps, and such were some of the significant signs
of the times. Hitherto evangelistic zeal had been only
general and indefinite, destitute of specific object and
aim ; but now we begin to come upon desires and con-
victions burning in the bosoms of godly and heroic men,
which cannot at all be contained within the realm of
thought and emotion, but must leap forth and incarnate
themselves inaction. ''With such feelings and utter-
ances among the elders, it is not strange that from
among the young men some should catch the spirit and
purpose actually to engage in missions." At this point,
in the person of Samuel J. Mills, there begins to come
into very prominent view one who without doubt may
properly be termed the American counterpart of William
Carey. If there were need of offering proof of this as-
sertion, it would be sufficient to set forth the distin-
guished and essential part he afterward played, not only
in the organization of the American Board, the Corn-
wall Mission School and the mission to the Sandwich
Islands, but also of the United Foreign Missionary
Society, the American Bible Society, the American Col-
onization Society, and the school in New York for the
Education of Africans. Like the Hebrew Samuel, from
his birth Mills had been lent to the Lord — not to serve
in the tabernacle, but to make living and life-long sac-
rifices in pagan lands. When but a child he ''acci-
dentally " heard his mother mention to a neighbor the
fact of his having been given to the work of missions,
and he never forgot it, but was continually inspired and

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. I05

impelled thereby to his dying day. She often also told
him stories of Eliot, Brainerd and others. Converted
in 1802, at the age of nineteen, his controlling purpose
was already so clear and strong that he could say to his
father: *' I cannot conceive of any course in life in
which to pass my days that would prove so pleasant as
to go and communicate the gospel of salvation to the
poor heathen." And even then his longing was to be a
missionary, not to the Indians near at hand, but in
some far off foreign country. Entering Williams Col-
lege in 1806, his heart was too much aflame with an-
other master-passion to allow him to excel in his
studies. The story is familiar how a few kindred spirits
were soon found, or fashioned, and at once they began
to pray, and ponder, and plan. There is no occasion
to dwell upon the memorable meeting under the hay-
stack when the great decision was made, or upon the
secret society with its solemn pledge to the foreign
work, or the careful and judicious canvass of ways and
means for furthering the momentous project they had
so fervently at heart. The object of the organization
was '* to effect in the person of its members a mission
to the heathen," and the constitution was drawn up in
cipher, ** public opinion being opposed to us," and
**lest we should be thought rashly imprudent, and so
should injure the cause we wish to promote." They
proceeded to make the acquaintance of various clergy-
men of influence, and opened a correspondence with
others. They secured the publication and distribution
of various sermons and other works on missionary sub-
jects. They visited a number of colleges, or wrote
thither, to kindle the holy flame in the breasts of other
young men. And surely here was found a remarkable

Io6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

combination of fervent zeal with knowledge of men and
affairs. With all their indomitable resolution and bound-
less ardor, anything approaching dangerously near to
fanaticism would be hard to find. The spirit which
lifted them up and bore them onward may be discerned
in the reply of Hall when later he was importuned to
take a Connecticut pastorate : '^ No, I must not settle
in any parish in Christeadom. Others will be left
whose health or pre-engagements require them to stay ;
but I can sleep on the ground and endure hunger and
hardship. God calls me to the heathen. Woe to me
if I preach not the gospel to the heathen."

In 1809 the scene shifts to Andover, the doors of that
institution having been opened for students only the
year before ; and the little band from Williams was
reinforced by Nott and Newell, and a few months later
by Judson, coming each from a different college, and
each also having arrived independently at the dominant
conviction. Judson had read Buchanan's ^' Star in
the East," and ^'the evidences of divine power mani-
fested in the progress of the gospel in India fell like a
spark into the tinder of his soul." " I could not study ;
I depicted to myself the romantic scenes of missionary
life; I was in a great excitement." A it'N months
sufficed to bring him to the fixed purpose to devote his
life to a missionary career. And though several with
whom he counselled thought the idea was irrational,
and though at a latter date he was called to the pas-
torate of an important church in Boston, nothing could
change his determination, but he wrote to the London
Society with reference to sending him out, and thus
began to move before he knew of any other who was
like-minded. The meetings of these young men to

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. I07

Strengthen one another in their purpose and planning to
extend the bounds of the dominion of their dear Lord
has been likened to that striking scene in the chapel at
Mont Martre, where nearly three hundred years before,
the seven founders of the Society of Jesus met to ex-
change their vows. Though wholly of one desire and
determination, they were as yet also wholly without
knowledge as to who would authorize them to go and
send them forth, as well as to what particular portion of
the wide world they should direct their efforts. Con-
sulting the seminary faculty, and their designs find-
ing favor, at length a conference with several clergymen
was arranged for June 25th, 18 10, and they were ad-
vised to petition the General Association of Massachu-
setts to move in the matter, as that body was to meet
at Bradford the next day. The petition was duly pre-
pared and presented, signed originally by the entire
six j but lest the large number should strike some timid
souls through with terror, two names were taken off!
This decisive document set forth that their " minds had
long been impressed with the duty and importance of
personally attempting a mission to the heathen," and
inquired if they could expect '* patronage and support
from a society in this country, or if they must commit
themselves to the direction of a European society."
And it was as the direct result of such urgency and
agitation on the part of this consecrated company that
the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions came into being, the first of the kind on this
side of the Atlantic, whose aim was nothing less than
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. And thus it was, therefore, that American
missions were born.

lOS A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

It is believed that at this date not less than eighteen
or twenty persons had been seriously considering the
personal claims upon them of missionary work, and of
course more or less of interest had been excited in the
minds of a much larger number. But even now only a
few ministers, and of laymen fewer still, had attained to
any considerable measure of interest. The Prudential
Committee were thoroughly persuaded that a consider-
able time must elapse before they could hope to sustain
a mission on a promising scale in any land. One of
their number, a successful Boston merchant, was opposed
to sending out any men at all unless a fund of at least
;^6o,ooo was in store for use in case of inadequate re-
ceipts ; and an effort, which fortunately was fruitless,
was actually made to raise a large sum for investment,
while but one was found venturesome enough to insist
that they should go forward just as soon as an eligible
field was found, fund or no fund, holding that the Lord's
hand was evidently in the matter, and that therefore the
way would be opened in due season, if only they be-
stirred themselves with vigor. The young men were
counselled to pursue their studies meanwhile and wait in
patience for developments. Recourse was had to the
London Society to see if the candidates could not be
sent out by the two bodies in co-operation, and Judson
was sent to England to confer concerning this project.
Through a kind providence, however, nothing came of
his mission, and hence all concerned were compelled to
rely wholly upon God and their own exertions.

And, verily, those were the days of small things. At
the end of the first year the receipts had reached but
^^999.52, and when the next year was well advanced the
treasury contained only ^1200. Hence with a minimum

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. I09

of sight for a foundation, upon which faith might stand
and plume itself for loftier flight into the realm of the
unseen and unknown, it is not in the least strange that
there was general hesitation about making the supreme
venture. But, behold, now in this the hour of their
helplessness, and as if to mock the extreme lack of
material resources, it came to pass that, without warning,
they found themselves caught in a corner and compelled
to act. Either the signal to advance immediately must
be raised, or else the fact be published that they had no
courage or confidence in the divine promise. For word
was brought from Philadelphia that in a few days a ves-
sel bound for India would sail from that city, in which
the missionaries might take passage, an opportunity not
likely to occur again for a period indefinitely long.
Then a little later came intelligence that about the same
date and for the same region another ship would set
forth from Salem. With this golden opportunity for
making the voyage on hand, and with four men ready
and waiting, most eager and urgent to be sent forth,
what should be done ? But, to add to the already sore
perplexity, what should happen but that a fifth petitioner
appears in the person of Rice, importunate to be or-
dained and despatched with the others ! The mettle of
the committee rose most grandly to the height of the
momentous occasion, and they determined to make the
venture, and take the risk. Mingling discretion with
valor however, it was stipulated that Rice should secure
for himself the wherewith for his outfit and passage to
the field ; it was suggested that the four wives would bet-
ter be left behind for a season in order to reduce expen-
ses to a minimum, and further it was intimated that if
the worst befell, a portion of the number, or even all,

no A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

might be transferred to the London Society. Nor did
the outconfie fail superabundantly to justify this notable
act of faith. A ringing call for the money required was
issued straightway, and arrangements were set on foot
for the ordination services. Fortunately, too, the date of
sailing was postponed for a fortnight. And now enthu-
siasm began to rise in fine fashion. So many hearts were
opened, and so great was the eagerness to give, that by
the end of the three weeks more than $6000 were in
hand, Philadelphia alone contributing more than ;^iooo.
Thus it became possible for all to depart, the wives in-
cluded, and with salaries paid for a year and a half in
advance ! On February 19th, 1812, Judson and Newell
sailed from Salem, and on the 22nd, Hall, Rice and
Nott followed from the City of Brotherly Love. As the
event soon proved, this beginning was made in the very
nick of time, for in June war was declared against Great
Britain, and thus for years communication with the East
was practically closed. Moreover, as if to reward the
Prudential Committee for their course, a bequest of
$30,000 to the Board was presently announced.

The instructions drawn up in haste for the guidance
of these pioneer American missionaries, though on the
whole surprisingly wise, both in what they contained,
and in what they omitted, have yet some passages which
read strangely in the light of what by experience has
since been taught. Thus, taking the hint from Carey,
they were enjoined to adopt as soon as possible '' some
plan of polity or social order," that is, a sort of family
or communistic arrangement, such as the disciples
entered into just after Pentecost. And still further, " to
lighten expenses, apply yourselves to the most eligible
ways and means of support, agreeable to the example of

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. Ill

the English missionaries, and even of the apostles."
For, the ruling idea then was that the stock of the
Lord's money was so limited that only sufficient could
be counted on to transport the missionaries to the scene
of their labors, and to sustain them until a foothold
could be gained, and that after that they must rely, at
least largely, upon their own resources. But a few years
were sufficient to demonstrate that neither of those
methods of procedure were called for, or could be
profitably reduced to practice. Moreover, in those days
primeval, as well as for more than a generation later, the
conviction was prevalent that to send women to coun-
tries heathen and savage was of more than doubtful pro-
priety. Not only was the matter of delicacy, modesty,
and even of greatest danger of gross ill-treatment in-
volved, but since they could not help in the work of
evangelization, they would prove a serious encumbrance !
But somehow it has happened that to this day, and in
numbers increasing at a most astonishing rate, the weaker
sex has contrived to get itself commissioned of both
God and men to proclaim the glad tidings in darkest
and vilest lands.

Ever since the organization of the Board the burning
questions had been, first, concerning finances, and
second, concerning the most eligible location for
missions. The bulk of the vast world was yet unknown,
and much of the remainder was inaccessible. During
the early conferences of the student originators, *' some-
times we would cut a path through the moral wilderness
of the West to the Pacific and sometimes to South Amer-
ica, the object always being the salvation of the heathen."
The London Society suggested the Indian tribes of
America and ** Hindoostan." For long months the com-

112 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

mittee had waited for the rising and moving of the pillar
of fire. In 1811 they reported that '' scarcely any portion
of the world is more important and inviting than Burmah, ' '
and that *' providence points to Canada and the Caghna-
waga tribe ;" to the latter since they know of a pious native
who longs to carry the gospel to his people, and is
getting an education for the purpose. But the war with
Britain closed the door of entrance in that direction.
India was looked upon with favor, and was finally
selected because of the presence there of Carey and his
associates, though Burmah, being outside of the domain
of the crotchety and jaundiced East India Company,
seemed to be a more desirable field.

When, in February of 181 2, the grand stroke for the
founding of a mission was heralded by the sailing of the
first five men for southern Asia, this is the language
employed in reference thereto : " The magnitude of the
event, if estimated by the probable consequences, is such
as to form an era in the history of the American
churches, though the immediate consequences may be
such as to disappoint " — words profoundly wise, and pro-
phetic as well. Up to this point the work had been only
that of putting the hand to the plow, and next were to
follow long and wearisome years of painful seed-sowing,
and anxious waiting for the harvest. Just ahead, though
mercifully wholly hidden, were in store disheartening
struggles against obstacles numerous, multiform, and
well nigh insuperable. The very first message which
was received from the missionaries was to the effect that
by the despotic and gospel-hating Company they had
been ordered to leave the country at once ; and the
next, in some respects even more alarming, was that
two out of the five, Judson and Rice, had withdrawn

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. II3

from the service of the Board, had gone over to the
Baptists, and had been immersed. As was quite nat-
ural, the surprise and consternation which followed this.
radical revolution in sentiment was not unmingled with
indignation and disgust, though on the whole, the
humiliating set-back was borne with commendable for-
bearance and resignation. These words with reference
to it appear in the next annual report : ^' The committee
has no disposition to impeach the sincerity of these
men, but they regret that the subject was not examined
before so late a day. Nevertheless, the foundation of
God standeth sure. We repose our hopes on this in
spite of the instability which we regret to record, but
against which no human foresight could provide. Let
it rouse a holy zeal ; and should it be overruled and
bring an accession of strength, it will be a joyful event."
Yes, overruled, and nobody now doubts that thus it soon
came to pass.

In noting the most impressive series of additional
afflictive providences which ensued, we are reminded of
the case of the London Society during the dark days
after the Duff ^djs, captured. After a voyage of four
months, Judson and Newell had arrived at Calcutta, June
17th, 18 1 2. At once an order was served upon them
to return to America in the ship that brought them
thither, nor without them would the Caravan be per-
mitted to sail. Later it was concluded that they might
take their departure for any region not within the Com-
pany's jurisdiction. Presently information was received
which '^ decisively deterred " them from entering Bur-
mah ; and as no door either open, or likely to open,
appeared in that direction, at their wits' end, their eyes
were turned westward towards Bombay, and possibly

114 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Africa. On August 4lh, Newell and his wife took pas-
sage in a vessel which could accomodate but two, leaving
the Judsons to follow when they could. And, behold,
only four days after, the Harmony arrived, bringing
Hall, Nott and Rice. They too were bidden by the
authorities to be off at the soonest. A passport was there-
fore procured from the police by the two former, passage
was engaged and their belongings were on board, when
an order came for them to depart for England in the
fleet about to sail ; but, notwithstanding, they went on
board the vessel they had chosen without the knowledge
of the officers and made their escape. Judson had
already been baptized in Serampore, and Rice put him-
self into the same company a few weeks later. Mean-
while the Newells were enduring wave upon wave of
trouble and sorrow. For a month they were beaten up
and down in the Bay of Bengal, Mrs. Newell being very
sick of a fever, and then in distress the ship put in at
Coringa, and lay for a fortnight. It was November
before they reached the Isle of France, and on the last
day of that month this heroic soul breathed her last.
As the event proved, it was thus that she accomplished
far more for the cause for which she exultingly laid down
her life, than would have been possible by the longest
term of most devoted service.

After a voyage of eleven weeks, on February nth,
almost a full year since leaving their native land. Hall
and Nott landed in Bombay. But knowledge of their
movements had preceded them thither, and they were
met with a command to depart forthwith for England.
Appealing to Governor Nepean, fortunately a man
large-hearted and thoroughly Christian, he promised to
do the best possible in their behalf, and wrote privately

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. I15

to Calcutta to intercede for them. They began at once
to study the language. To greatly increase the complica-
tion, just now arrived the news of the declaration of war
between Great Britain and the United States; for as
was to be expected, the missionaries became objects of sus-
picion as possible spies. In August they learned that their
names were down on a list as passengers in a vessel
which was to have sailed at once, but on account of a
leak was long delayed. In September they asked per-
mission to depart for Ceylon where Newell now was, but
consent was withheld. A few weeks later, learning that
a ship was to start in a few hours for Cochin, and to go
thence to Ceylon, they went on board, leaving Mrs.
Nott behind, and a letter for the governor explaining
why they had left without authority from him. Delayed
at Cochin, letters arrived ordering them to be returned
to Bombay. On December 22nd they must certainly
sail for England. As a final effort, a most solemn
memorial was addressed to Sir Evan Nepean as a man
and a Christian, protesting against the serious offense of
deporting them, when their sole object in coming was
to preach the Gospel to the perishing heathen. But
preparations were also made for departure, goods were
packed and labelled, coolies and boats were engaged.
About to set forth, the captain applied at the pay-office
for their passage-money, and it was refused ; and not
long after came a message granting permission to remain
in the city. Newell soon joined them, after ten months
in Ceylon, and at once the foundations began to be laid.
At the annual meeting of the Board, held in Salem
September 20th, 181 5, in the sixth annual report, this is
the language chosen to set forth most fittingly both the
achievements hitherto made and the current situation :

Il6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

**The last two reports had recitations of the pilgrimages
and adventures, perils and deliverances, discouragements
and consolations of our missionaries in the East, seeking
a door of entrance, but obstructed, disappointed, and
in continual anxiety and suspense. But thus have been
showed the faith and patience, the firmness and pru-
dence, the fortitude and devotedness of the brethren,
and proofs, affecting and animating, of the wisdom and
goodness, the faithfulness and mercy, the almighty pro-
tection and overruling providence of God. This report
has less striking narrative and affecting incident, and
because they have found an open door and a resting
place, though even now they have scarcely commenced
their public labors." The glad announcement was also
made that, after three years of war, peace had returned.
During all this protracted period of sore trial, so well
had the faith and patience of the saints at home endured,
that now, a brighter day having dawned, the way was
open for an enlargement of the work. Five men, who had
long been waiting for the opportunity, were despatched,
some to Bombay to reinforce the mission there, and the
others to Ceylon to break ground for a second station.
The next year, various hindrances which had hitherto
prevented, having been removed, a mission was started
among the Indians of northern Georgia. It is in the
annual report for 1817 that for the first time several dis-
tinct fields could be named. The information is given
that ^2200 had been sent to Bombay with which to open
schools, and that a house of worship was much needed
in that city. In Ceylon the government had granted
the use of certain old Roman Catholic churches, with
their glebes and manses. Among the Cherokees Mr.
Kingsbury found much encouragement. Also a mission

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. II7

school had been founded at Cornwall, Conn. And this
significant item appeared with reference to the first mis-
sion of the London Society: ^'The late glorious
events at the Society Islands — particularly at Otaheite
and Eimeo — make our hearts burn with desire to wit-
ness the same triumphs of the cross at Owyhee and
Woahu [Hawaii and Oahu]. From all accounts this
field is white for the harvest."

In 18 1 9 details are given concerning no less than
seven missions ; Bombay, Ceylon, Palestine, among the
Cherokees, the Choctaws, the Indians of Arkansas, and
in the Sandwich Islands. And behold, what God had
wrought in so brief a space. ' ' The first, only six years
ago, was struggling for a place and even for existence, the
last just ready to embark, and in all extending from east
to west more than two-thirds around the globe." In the
north Pacific the way of entrance had been wondrously
prepared by the advent into this country of Obookiah,
his ^uas t-sidoption by Mills, his conversion and educa-
tion with other Hawaiian youths at Cornwall, and their
letters home telling of the Christian faith; and perhaps
even more, by the news carried by sailors that the idols
had been cast out in Otaheite, as well as by the return of
certain Hawaiians after their conversion in the Society Is-
lands. It was a memorable event in the history of the
x\merican Board when, in 1819, Bingham and Thurston
and twenty others — by far the largest missionary family
that had yet been gathered and sent forth at one time —
set sail in the brig Thaddeus, bound via Cape Horn for
the remote recesses of the Western Sea, to proclaim to
the perishing the unsearchable riches of Christ. But
little came directly from the projected mission to the
Holy Land, from which so much was fondly anticipated.

Il8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

and about which had gathered so much of enthusiasm
and fine religious sentiment ; though indirectly and
more remotely it led to the opening of the Board's most
important work among the Oriental churches of the
Turkish Empire, which now consumes one-third of its
income, and embraces one-third of its converts. **So
Messrs. Parsons and Fisk were chosen, and sent upon
an extensive tour among the churches as missionaries to
Jerusalem, whereby a wide and lively interest was ex-
cited, and a distinguished liberality of contributions was
the result."

In 1820, after ten years of most careful planning and
most arduous toil, this is the summing up of tangible
results. The cost in money had reached nearly $200,-
000. From ^1000, the receipts of the first year, the
annual income rose to ^12,266 in 1814; fell to $9494
the year after, on account of the war, and then climbed
steadily to ^37,521 in 1819. At the end of the first
decade in all no missionaries had been appointed, of
whom 62 were men ; and of the 88 still in service, or
on the way to their fields, 28 were men ordained. Of
the entire force 44 were laboring among the Indians, 25
were in the East, 17 in the Sandwich Islands, and 2 in
western Asia. As to fruit-gathering, even yet the re-
port is: *' We cannot reckon up much of tangible re-
sults." The years following were devoted almost
wholly to the development of fields already occupied,
rather that to the founding of additional missions.

Thus far we have been dwelling upon the evangelistic
designs and doings of the American Board and the
New England Congregationalists. And the fact is that
for a number of years the bulk both of money and men,
was derived from the children of the Pilgrims. Wil-

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. II9

liams College, Andover Seminary, and Massachusetts
General Association, were called of Providence to
play the foremost part in arousing and organizing the
forces which laid the foundations, and began to rear the
superstructure, of American missions. It was from ac-
cident however, rather than from deliberate design,
was the result of circumstances, that of the first eight
commissioners chosen, five were from Massachusetts, and
the others were from Connecticut. But no statement of
the origin and growth of missions in the United States
would be at all complete, which did not make mention
of the hearty sympathy and generous co-operation of
various other denominations, and as well as of other mis-
sionary societies to which, directly or indirectly, the
work of the Board gave rise. We have already seen
what liberal contributions were bestowed by the Phila-
delphia Presbyterians when the first men were sent out
in 181 2. The same year by the secretary the General
Assembly was invited to form a similar society to co-op-
erate with the Board ; but that body in reply expressed
the conviction that foreign missions would be best
served by a single organization, and added that *' their
churches rejoiced in the American Board and would
sustain it to the best of their ability." And for a gen-
eration that pledge was kept. It was not until 1837
that the Old School branch began to establish missions,
while the other branch remained in closest connection
down to 1870. In order to secure increased denomi-
national comprehensiveness, at the second annual meet-
ing an addition of thirteen commissioners was made
to the corporation, of whom eight were Presbyterians.
In 1832, out of sixty-two corporate members, thirty-one
were Presbyterians, twenty-four were Congregationalists,

120 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

six were (Dutch) Reformed, and one was Associate
Reformed, and the missionaries were ordinarily chosen
in about the same proportion. The German Reformed
Church also assisted regularly with money-gifts for
twenty- five years (1840-65.) The (Dutch) Reformed
did not withdraw until 1857.

Especial mention must be made of the second organ-
ized movement started in this country, whose beginning
constitutes one of the very strangest passages in mission
history. This society came into existence through
what seemed to multitudes to be a piece of human
frailty. Out of disappointment and sorrow, out of ap-
parent failure and disaster, issued almost unparalleled
success and enlargement to the kingdom. It was evi-
dently the Lord's doing, and even yet is marvelous in
our eyes. Of course the reference is to the famous
change of opinion with regard to baptism on the part of
Judson and Rice, soon after they had reached India.
We have already seen what impression that revolution
in sentiment made upon the Prudential Committee. In
their astonishment and deep perplexity over it Hall
and Nott wrote home as follows: "What the Lord
means by thus dividing us in sentiment and separating
us from each other we cannot tell. The Lord seeth not
as man seeth, and it ill becomes us to be dissatisfied
with what he does. We hope and pray that it will not
damp the missionary spirit, but that it may burn with
a brighter and purer flame." That hope was well
founded, and that prayer was not unheard. The work
already begun in America was not weakened in the least,
except for a very brief season of dismay, while pres-
ently, as the direct result, an entire denomination was
fairly set on fire with zeal for the world's evangelization,

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. 121

and ever since has maintained the impulse then received.
So that among the fruits of that stupendous " faikire "
we are to reckon the almost unmatched victories of the
gospel over heathenism among the Karens in Burmah,
and in our day also among the Telugus of eastern India !
As soon as the decisive step had been taken, the two
chief actors therein wrote to the American Baptists of
what had come to pass. Carey also wrote, and their
letters all reached Boston by the same mail in February
of 1 813. Before he left, with not the least thought
that it would ever be of any personal concern to himself,
Judson had suggested the formation of a Baptist society,
but nothinsf came of the counsel. But now all of a
sudden, unsought, undesired, unlooked for, they find
two missionaries in the foreign field, who at terrible
cost had joined their fellowship, and were fairly thrust
upon them for support. Here were straits even greater
and more embarrassing than those in which the Amer-
ican Board had found itself with five men on its hands
and an empty treasury. Here also moreover was a
question without a negative possible, save one which
involved disgrace and almost infamy. Hence as might
be expected, a local organization was formed without
delay, and circulars were sent out looking to a gathering
which should be national in its proportions, and thus
miite the entire denomination, a consummation which
as yet had never been achieved for any purpose what-
soever. The proposition was made to the Baptist Society
in England (America still fearing to undertake to walk
alone, and much inclined to lean upon the strong arm
of Britain) to receive the two men into its India mis-
sion, their support to be supplied from this side of the
Atlantic ; but the sagacious Fuller wrote in reply, and

122 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

exceedingly fortunate for the Lord's work in all the
world: ''Late events point to the origin of a distinct
Baptist society in America." Concerning the outcome
the following has been written: "The intelligence
[concerning Judson and Rice] spread with electric ra-
pidity, and gave to benevolence and Christian obligation
a depth and fervor never before experienced. One sen-
timent of deep thanksgiving prevailed. The providence
was too plain to be mistaken. The way had been
opened, the field had been prepared, and the true-
hearted must enter and prosecute that to which they had
been summoned." In May, 1814, a preliminary assem-
bly was held in Philadelphia, attended by twenty-six
ministers and seven laymen, representing eleven states
and the District of Columbia. Arrangements were
made to establish the General Convention of the Baptist
Denomination in the United States of America for
Foreign Missions [and as if not satisfied with the length
of this name, in 182 1 were added the words,] " and other
important objects relating to the Redeemer's kingdom."
In 1845 the name was changed to American Baptist
Missionary Union. Much fuel was added to the flame
when, in September, Rice reached home and straight-
way began to tell what marvelous things he had seen
and heard. "Here was one who had actually stood
among the temples of heathendom and beheld the cruel
abominations," something almost outside of the expe-
rience of most men in that early day. His was an
imagination most ardent, and his pictures were painted
in colors most vivid. " He reproduced the rapt predic-
tions of the prophets of the Old and New Testaments,
and the thrilling exhortations of the apostles concerning
the kingdom of heaven, and multitudes hung on his lips

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. 1 2 3

and followed his footsteps with an enthusiasm seldom
known since Whitefield." Nothing could withstand the
swelling tide of zeal which now set in. For the time at
least, before it indifference and prejudice were com-
pletely swept away.

And what of Judson meanwhile ? For months with no
human arm to lean upon, but with unswerving confi-
dence in the protection and guidance of his unseen
Master, he looked forward wholly bent upon the accom-
plishment of the work to which he had been called.
Ordered to depart for England by the East India Com-
pany, he yet managed by a remarkable train of circum-
stances to escape to a ship bound for the Isle of France;
after three months he returned to Madras, was immedi-
ately refused permission to remain, and as the only
resort took passage in a vessel with Burmah for its desti-
nation. And thus it came about that July 14th, 18 13,
some seventeen months after his departure from the New
World, he was landed at Rangoon, in a region to which
he had originally been assigned, but into which while
in Calcutta the door of entrance seemed to be hopelessly
closed. Here, just on the threshold of his distinguished
career, it is necessary to leave him for the present, the
story all untold of the years of incredible toils and
perils, sufferings and afflictions, as well as the surprising
successes, which even in his lifetime began to appear.
His name will ever stand high in the illustrious list of
Christian heroes.

Only the briefest mention can well be made of the
missionary operations of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, whose first representative did not reach the
foreign field until 1833. From the outset this had been
eminently an evangelizing body, and had been unsur-

124 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

passed in efforts to plant Christian institutions at every
point throughout the boundless, and ever-shifting, and
appallingly needy frontier of this rising Republic. And
therefore not improperly work for the heathen at
home took precedence. In the call to this is seen a
peculiar ordering of providence, which lends to the
narrative an element of romance. As so often happens,
it was but a plebeian and commonplace incident, a mere
accident, that started a movement of first-class import-
ance. At Marietta, O., a drunken negro, Stewart by
name, while in the desperation of shame and remorse on
his way to drown himself, was arrested by the voice of
a Methodist preacher calling sinners to repentance and
promising salvation. By the sermon he was converted,
and not long after, in a vision, as he stoutly held, was
divinely bidden to set forth westward and northward to
preach the gospel to the perishing. Making his journey
through the forest, he at length appeared among the
pagan and savage Wyandots upon the upper Sandusky
River. A revival ensued, assistance was sent, the
mission was continued, and later, the facts coming to
the knowledge of Nathan Bangs and others in New
York, their hearts were so stirred that they proceeded to
set up an organization which should systematize and
develop the work of missions at home and abroad. This
important step was taken in 1819. It was nineteen
years later that Melville D. Cox was appointed mission-
ary to Monrovia on the west coast of Africa. The
career of this first of American Methodists to bear the
message of salvation to distant lands was exceedingly
brief. Reaching his destination March 7th, on the 21st
of July following he breathed his last, falling a victim to
the terrible African fever, but not until he had uttered

THE GENESIS OF MISSIONS IN AMERICA. 1 25

that ringing challenge to Christendom, whose echo has
not yet in the least died away: "Let a thousand fall
before Africa be given up ! "

The Protestant Episcopal Church was the next to
organize. As early as 1817 the English Church
Missionary Society (Britain again lending a missionary
impulse to America) had urged the founding of an
organization here, and in 1820 the Domestic and For-
eign Missionary Society came into being. But it was
not until ten years later that missionaries were sent out,
when two were despatched to Greece, and five years
later still that the mission to China was opened. The
Free (Will) Baptists commenced work in eastern India
in 1833, the Lutherans (General Synod) sent a repre-
sentative to the same country in 1841, the Southern
Baptists set up for themselves in 1845, ^^^^ the Southern
Methodists the year following, while the work of the
United Presbyterians dates from 1858. One after
another the various denominations have fallen into line,
until almost every one of any considerable strength has
begun to heed the command. Preach the gospel to
every creature. And at length it has come, or is rapidly
coming, to this, that the supreme test of loyalty to
Christ is found in the answer to the searching question :
How abundant in labors, how liberal in giving, how
earnest in prayer, is the individual, or the church, or
the denomination, for the redemption of the world ?

CHAPTER XII.

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION.

The chapters just preceding have presented in outline
the narrative of the remarkable revival of missionary
zeal which occurred during the three decades immedi-
ately following the organization of the Baptist Mission-
ary Society in England, and the sailing of Carey to be-
gin the final assault upon heathenism in the vast penin-
sula of southern Asia. And what astounding progress
has since then been made, and how utterly changed is
the outlook to-day. The contrast is exceedingly striking
at every point, and is full to overflowing of good cheer
and ground for hope in years to come. It will be well
to note next, some of the forces which have wrought
mightily for the furtherance of world-wide evangelistic
efforts during the passing century, taking these as speci-
mens of the encouragement the Lord of the vineyard
has vouchsafed to his servants who have been enduring
the heat and burden of the day. But meanwhile, bear-
ing in mind that at the best, the last hundred years have
been in the main for missions only a period of explora-
tion and pioneering, of laying foundations and trying
experiments, of gaining experience, and fashioning
needed instrumentalities for securing the best and most
enduring results. Languages by the hundred have been
learned and reduced to writing, and into them the
Scriptures have been translated and a host of other books,
so creating from nothing a Christian literature. Buildings

126

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. 1 27

of all sorts have been constructed, and all manner of in-
stitutions, educational, social and religious, have been
planned and brought into being ; all of which are of the
greatest possible value, and indeed indispensable to the
solid prosperity of the kingdom. Then several genera-
tions, taken out of the depths of pagan degradation,
have been trained up into Christian intelligence and
virtue, Christian customs, ideas and tastes. Christian
homes by the ten thousand have been created, and an
army of native preachers, pastors, evangelists, bible-
readers and teachers have been enlisted, drilled and in-
troduced into their work. And best of all, some mil-
lions of converts have been taught to adorn the gospel in
all things by godly characters and lives. Such prelim
inary and preparatory work is necessarily of the hard-
est, slowest and most discouraging kind, but it needs
not to be repeated, and answers for all time. We are to
count this century then as more especially one of seed-
sowing. From Carey's day to the present the earnest-
hearted have labored thus, while those who come after
Avill enter into their labors and reap the glorious harvest
with songs of rejoicmg.

Thus viewed, the achievements already made, though
as nothing compared with what remains to be done, are yet
of surprising magnitude, multitude, and variety. Then
missions had been planted almost nowhere, now they are
to be found almost everywhere. The countries which
are altogether unoccupied are rare exceptions. From
numbering a few scores, the stations and out-stations
have gone on steadily increasing until now more than
12,000 can be named (not aiming at exact figures, but
endeavoring to keep carefully within the limits of fact),
and each one a blessed center of gospel light and joy.

128 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Not counting the hundreds who have died at their posts,
there are yet living and in the midst of their toil a host
of 5000 men sent forth from Christian lands, of whom
some 4300 are ordained. And to these are to be added
as many women, including some 2500 who are un-
married and filling the callings of zenana-workers, phy-
sicians, teachers, etc. Associated with these 11,000
men and women from Europe and America, are found
upwards of 40,000 native Christian " helpers," 4200 of
them ordained, a portion of the Lord's army upon whom
more and more the task of winning victories and hold-
ing conquered territory is to fall. A total evangelizing
force therefore of at least a round 50,000 is in the field,
and practically all raised up since the century began.
As to contributions of money to sustain and enlarge the
aggressive campaign, it is estimated that a hundred years
ago all Christendom was giving for the redemption of all
heathendom not more than at the rate of ^200,000 a
year, a sum which is more than quadrupled by the in-
come of each one of several societies. The annual re-
ceipts now reach an aggregate of more than $15,000,-
000, and if we include, as we properly may, the receipts
of bible societies, tract societies, etc., with the cost of
training missionaries in colleges and theological semi-
naries, the amount will approximate to $16,000,000. A
miserable pittance, indeed, as compared with what is
needed and what lies within the ability of the churches
to bestow, but nevertheless indicating a marvelous in-
crease in the grace of giving since 1792. And finally,
as to results, that is, such as can be expressed by fig-
ures, though these are likely to be among the least. Of
adherents, those who have cast away their idols and put
themselves under the teaching of the missionaries, there

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. 1 29

are upwards of 3,000,000. In India alone according to
the last census there are 2,250,000. No account is taken
of at least as many more who are halting between two
opinions, almost persuaded to choose Christ, or of the var-
ious mass movements in which whole regions are deeply
stirred religiously, and entire villages forsake their pagan
temples and priests. Dean Vahl gives the number of
communicants as 1,100,000. In addition, the 17,000
mission schools are giving a Christian education to over
900,000 boys and girls.

Now this exceedingly rapid development of missions
really constitutes one of the chief phenomena of this
century of wonders, and one which in the religious
sphere at least is unapproached. This is indeed the
century of missions par excellence. No other phrase
will express so well, so much of what is best and most
characteristic. These facts so inspiring to faith and
courage, and so well fitted to provoke to vigorous en-
deavor to complete the work so grandly begun, have
been presented just here mainly because they supply an
excellent introduction to a discussion as to how it hap-
pened that such marvels came to pass, or what forces
wrought together to produce such wide-spread and mag-
nificent results. For no previous hundred years can be
named in which progress so varied, and on such a
stupendous scale, would have been possible. It is pleas-
ant to discover ample evidence at every step that the
same providence, all-wise and almighty, which in
Carey's time, and before, so wondrously opened the
pathway for a beginning, has ever since been equally
busy raising up in every sphere auxiliaries and allies al-
most without number, that in our day the whole earth
might see the salvation of our God.

130 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

It cannot but be instructive to survey the general his-
tory of the period in search for changes in the secular
or non-religious realm which have added immensely to
the volume and momentum of missionary undertakings.
Take as an illustration the astounding growth of the
United States in area, population, wealth, intelligence
and spiritual power. A century ago but 4,000,000, all
dwelling east of the Alleghenies in a long, narrow strip
bordering upon the Atlantic, but now increased to 65,-
000,000, spreading from sea to sea, occupying the con-
tinent which they have subdued, and easily holding
rank among the foremost of nations. Then general
chaos prevailed. Uncertainty, dissatisfaction and weak-
ness were universal. Our institutions were all in feeble
infancy, the Republic was no more than a novel and
astounding experiment. But now, in both church and
state, the fundamental principles then introduced with
fear and trembling, have been thoroughly tested and
found worthy of confidence, better than the most en-
thusiastic dared to hope. And what if this nation had
been omitted from history ? What if Britain had sub-
dued the colonies, or they had been confined to their
original area, or by secession the Union had been hope-
lessly rent in twain ? Who can doubt that among the
purposes of the God of nations in prospering the work
of the founders, the builders and the defenders was this,
that in the New World might be gathered and developed
instrumentalities, which in due season might be wielded
for the conversion of the world. In the same category
must be placed the, if possible, more amazing spread
of British dominion and political influence into every
quarter of the globe. Take the two nations together,
and what world-force can for a moment compare with

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. I3I

this one ? The Anglo-Saxon is the supreme colonizer,
and civilizer, and Christianizer under the sun. Prot-
estant Britain holds political sway over some 12,000,000
square miles of the earth's surface, or nearly one-fourth
of all the land area, and over some 400,000,000 of the
human family ; or more than one-fourth of the entire
race. And this means, among other things, that so far
and wide, at least a beginning has been made in es-
tablishing good laws, good order, civil and religious
liberty, schools, and all the various concomitants of
civilization, and that steady progress will ensue. In
aiding in the spread of the gospel in heathen lands,
pax Brittanica is worth ten -fold more than pax Rotnana
ever was in the best of the early centuries. What if
England had possessed no navy, no fleet of merchant
vessels sailing every sea, and opening traffic with every
nation under heaven ! What a peculiar providence for
the furtherance of missions is connected with the match-
less results flowing from English commerce, English
!:onquest, and English colonization. Of course, of the
same sort, differing only in degree, are the setting up
of the Congo Free State, and the Partition of Africa
with its numerous '* protectorates " and ''spheres of
influence."

Or, in measuring the secular forces, the non-religious
factors which have played a prominent part in hastening
the glorious day of redemption for the race, account
must be taken of the triumphs of modern science, of dis-
coveries and inventions too numerous even to mention.
Recall what steam has done for travel and trade, to
quicken intercourse between the nations by bringing
them nearer and making them acquainted. The great
ocean steamships, the lines of trans-continental rail-

132 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

ways, and the Suez Canal are divinely appointed and
invaluable aids in proclaiming at the soonest to every
creature the saving story of the Cross. How much
nearer to salvation are the millions of India since the
metaled highways and railroads were there constructed,
since the telegraph and post-office began their manifold
ministries. How much has the task been lightened of
going into all the world since Carey endured such vexa-
tions in effecting an entrance into his chosen field,
since Vanderkemp consumed five months in reaching the
Cape of Good Hope, since Duff in an eight months'
voyage suffered shipwreck three times, and since the
first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands must needs
make their passage in a brig, and via Cape Horn. Mor-
rison journeyed to China by way of New York, being
tossed about for three months upon the Atlantic, and
after that came four months more of tedious alternations oi
dead calm and tempest, two hundred and thirty days in
all. The mission ship Duff was gone two years on her
first trip to carry the messengers of Christ to the South
Seas, and on her second was captured by a French priv-
ateer. And in what dreadful isolation were the first
missionaries compelled to spend their lives, without sym-
pathy and counsel, thrown almost wholly upon their
own resources, so difficult, so expensive, and so infre-
quent was communication.

Nor must we by any means forget the remarkable re-
sults which have been achieved by scores and hundreds
of explorers in all lands. A century ago the bulk of the
world was utterly unknown to civilized men. Africa,
for example, the second of continents for size, had been
touched only upon the coast, and there only at a few

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. 1 33

points. Of the entire interior as little was known as cf
the surface of the moon. Mungo Park was the only
modern traveler who had dared to undertake to pene-
trate the profound darkness (i 795-1806), and had lost
his life somewhere on the upper Niger. Not much prog-
ress was raa^le in African discovery until Livingstone
in 1849, only forty-four years ago, struck out from his
mission station to reach the Atlantic coast, and then re-
crossed to the Indian Ocean. Nor was it until his life work
was accomplished, and that of Stanley, and of numerous
other courageous and venturesome men, that the Chris-
tian churches were in possession of knowledge upon
which to base conviction and evangelistic effort. It was
Livingstone's saying that " the end of discovery is the
beginning of missions." And in this generation troops
of missionaries are to be seen pressing into the Dark
Continent from the north, the south, the east and west,
up the Nile and the Niger, the Congo, and the Zambezi,
and the Shire, and opening stations on the great central
lakes.

Closed doors also of another sort have been won-
drously opened since the century began. Multitudes are
yet living who can remember the strange times when
among the chief difficulties was that of finding an enter-
ing place, making a lodgment for the gospel. To enter
China, Japan, or Corea, was to face certain death. In
1840, and by the iniquities and desolations of the
** Opium War," five Chinese ports were opened to mis-
sionary residence and activity, and only since i860,
after three bloody struggles with western nations, has it
been lawful to preach Christ to the teeming millions of
the vast interior. It was in 1854, under the persuasion

t34 A. HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

of Commodore Perry's cannon, that the Sunrise King-
dom began to unbar her gates, and after the revolution
of ten years later followed another impulse in the same
direction, while the '* Hermit Kingdom " maintained
her exclusiveness until 1882. Already the story seems
incredible that for twenty-seven long years (1807-34)
Morrison watched, waited, and prayed, in Canton and
Macao, unable to hold a public service, preaching Jesus
to congregations of half a dozen or less, baptizing only
three or four, and so dying in faith, not having received
the promise. And that for eight years more Milne, and
Giitzlaff, and Abeel, hovered cautiously upon the coast,
entering the bays and rivers as far as they dared, dis-
tributing Christian books and tracts, and in Singapore
and Malacca establishing religious services and schools
for the large Chinese population gathered there, hoping
that thus in this around-about fashion the empire itself
might at length be affected in some measure. Then
during much of the same period India was practically
shut up against missionary effort. Just before Carey
was ready to set forth upon his venture, the East India
Company had come to regard Christianity as something
dangerous beyond endurance for their possessions in the
East. " A band of devils " was preferable to a band
of missionaries. And when in Parliament their ideas
and policy were severely denounced, they were the more
determined to keep the Gospel out of India, and over
the Vellore outbreak in 1807 their nervous fear became
overwhelmingly great. However, by an amendment to
their charter in 18 13, they were compelled to tolerate
British missionaries, after 1833 missionaries from all
Christendom might freely enter, and after the mutiny of

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. 1 35

1857, which proved the death blow to the great corpor-
ation, the last legal restrictions were removed, except in
certain of the native states.

Of course, there was no room for missionaries in the
Turkish Empire, or anywhere in Mohammedan realms.
This form of hindrance to the Gospel is by no means
yet removed, and bids fair to exist for generations to
come. But Queen Victoria is sovereign over some 60,-
000,000 Moslems, and their lives are in no great jeopardy
if they would accept Christ. In Egypt, too, where
British influence is widely felt, there is a fair degree
of religious freedom. The Shah of Persia is in many
respects a liberal monarch, while even the Sultan is com-
pelled to wear a humiliating hook in the nose, not being
able to do just what he would with his Christian sub-
jects, but in many things consulting the judgment and
scruples of foreign ambassadors, especially those repre-
senting the moral sense of Great Britain. In like man-
ner, as for Roman Catholic countries one and all, they
were closed against the entrance of the word of God as
proclaimed by Protestants. Church and State were
in hearty league to exclude the pestilent heresy. But
presently the South American states, one after another,
began to rebel against their European masters, to set up
independent governments, and to move forward towards
liberty, both civil and religious. Since 1867, the gospel
has found free course in Mexico. Though under many
damaging restrictions, missionaries are tolerated in Aus-
tria, in the ancient home of Torquemada and the Spanish
Inquisition ! and, wonder of wonders, within the gates
of the Eternal City itself ! Yes, more than two dozen
Protestant churches are doing their purifying and enno-

136 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

bliiig work within easy gun-shot of the Vatican. And
the beginning of this miracle was in 1870, when in the
midst of the Franco-German war Victor Emmanuel
found his opportunity to appropriate the States of the
Church, and to make Rome his capital.

Such are some of the more notable changes in the
world of science and politics which have had a bearing
most direct and momentous on the great matter of the
diffusion of Christianity throughout the whole world.
All these are forces favorable to the propagation of the
Gospel which are resident, not in its own nature and
spirit, but rather in its environment. Coming nearer to
realms more distinctively religious, the missionary toil
of this century has been wondrously assisted by the
printing press, by the astonishing production of copies
of the word of God, and of a Christian literature in
endless variety, and in quantity beyond calculation.
Herein lies no small part of the peculiar privilege and
glory of the Church of the present time, and in this fact
is found much of the secret of its purity of doctrine and
vigor of life. It was not until within a few decades that
the art of printing emerged from infancy, and in the
fullness of strength and skill, entered upon its beneficent
career. No man can estimate how much the kingdom,
both at home and in the foreign field, owes to the multi-
plication of copies of the Scriptures, and their distribu-
tion by the various Bible societies. Between the Chris-
tian Era and the Reformation, a period of about fifteen
hundred years, the divinely given rule of faith and prac-
tice was translated into but twenty-three languages, at
the rate of one in sixty-five years, and in these of course
was found only in manuscript. Between the Reforma-

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. 1 37

tion and 1804, when the British and Foreign Bible So-
ciety was organized, the number of new versions reached
thirty-four, or one for every nine years. Between 1804
and 1890, when printing by machinery and the power-
press had come into vogue, three hundred and forty-two
versions were made and scattered far and wide, at the
rate of four a year. In the decade 1881-91, the British
and Foreign Bible Society alone undertook fifty transla-
tions. In all, from the beginning this society has pub-
lished no less than 135,000,000 copies of the Bible or
portions thereof, the American Bible Society 57,000,000
more since 18 16, and if we include all other editions like
the Bagster, the Oxford, the Revised Version, etc., etc.,
at least 250,000,000 copies must have been produced
since the modern era of missions began. Add now to
the Bibles, the host of missionary magazines, annual re-
ports, tracts and leaflets, books historical and biograph-
xal, essays, sermons and the rest, and how much has
been accomplished to move Christendom, and heathen-
dom also. The lives of Brainerd, and Martyn, and
Judson, and Livingstone, and Harriet Newell, and Ann
Hasseltine, and scores of others, have sufficed to kindle
boundless enthusiasm and devotion. And the thrilling
stories of such successes as were won in Fiji and Mada-
gascar, among the Karens and Telugus, by increasing
knowledge have increased interest a hundred-fold. In
former days the soldiers of the cross had no auxiliary
able at all to match the present might of the printed
word of God.

But other invaluable instrumentalities have been con-
trived, other weapons new, and mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds, are wielded by the

138 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

modern missionary. It is Livingstone who reminds us
that, however it may once have been, it no longer re-
mains true that the missionary is adequately represented
by the picture of a man with a Bible in his hand. While
an evangelist beyond anything else, he is also something
more. Whatever he does is to be for the Gospel's sake,
but he is to civilize as well as to evangelize. So far as is
possible he is to minister to every human need, from the
highest to the lowest. By the school the intellect is to
be quickened and enlarged. There is a legitimate place
even for industrial training. The splendid results
achieved at Lovedale, and by Mr. Duncan among the
Indians at Metlakahtla upon the Northwest Coast, are
ample proof of this. The man of God in pagan lands
is to feed the hungry in times of famine, and in times
of pestilence to nurse and supply healing agencies. The
medical mission, when rightly employed, is as purely
Christlike as any other agency. The hospital and dis-
pensary often prove well-nigh irresistible means of grace,
for they are easily appreciated, and set in striking con-
trast the love, and sympathy, and benevolence of Chris-
tianity, and the selfishness and cruelty of pagan re-
ligions. Then it is only in this generation that the
length and breadth, the height and depth, of woman's
sphere as an evangelizer have been discovered, and so
the saving efficacy of missionary efforts has been well-
nigh doubled. So long as men only were commissioned,
and their endeavors were held in honor, one-half of the
world was practically shut out from opportunities to
hear of Christ. And it was not until women were de-
spatched by the hundred and thousand to enter the
homes, to teach the children, to nurse, to practice medi-

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. 1 39

cine and surgery, that the gospel began to have a fair
chance to vanquish superstition and false faith. The
women, and hence the homes, had been but slightly
affected, so that the results were comparatively super-
ficial, and the progress slow.

The gains of the gospel in the foreign field are greater
nowadays for another reason. Missionary work has
been so long in progress that opportunity has been af-
forded to select, and prepare, and set to their tasks, a
native ministry in numbers relatively large. Until this
important achievement had been made, missions were
not fairly on their feet. Time was when all the toilers
were foreigners, wrestling with the language and strug-
gling desperately to make themselves understood, wholly
unacquainted with the idiosyncrasies of the people,
their ideas, prejudices, and peculiar modes of thought.
But now native preachers, pastors, evangelists, Bible-
readers, etc., outnumber the missionaries four to one,
and presently the proportion will become ten to one,
and fifty to one. There seems to be no divided testi-
mony as to the significance of this phase of the current
situation. Japan is to be evangelized by the Japanese,
not by Europeans, China by Chinamen, Africa by Afri-
cans. Only these can impart to the Gospel a native
flavor, only these can speak to the native mind and
heart. Add to this another result, closely related, the
presence in thousands of communities of natives once
in the degradation of heathenism, but now enlightened,
ennobled, transformed, a daily spectacle to all behold-
ers proving the matchless power of divine grace to save,
and well may the kingdom go forward with rapid strides.
Children are able to begin where their parents left off.

I40 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

More and more is the virus eliminated from the blood
and bone. A generation is growing up which was born
and reared in Christian homes, at least in Christian
communities, never having had instruction, or experi-
ence, in the follies and abominations of idolatry. And
hence we may not unreasonably expect the increase to
be in geometrical progression.

Dr. Warneck suggests that in evangelizing the heathen
the work naturally passes through various phases which
differ widely. His language is : *' It generally happens,
so history teaches us, that every mission period has
three stages, though of course these are not always
sharply defined, nor do they always demand an equal
continuance. The first stage is that of sending of the
mission and of individual conversions, with the gather-
ing of comparatively small churches ; the second is that
of the organized work of the native forces and the cul-
tivation of the church-life ; the third is that of the
Christianizing of masses, which is generally connected
with the occurrence of specially great events in mundane
history, political revolutions, the acceptance of Chris-
tianity by the chiefs, etc." Evidence is steadily accum-
ulating that in fields not a few, this third stage of
wholesale turning from the worship of idols to the living
God is not only at the door, but has already made its
most impressive and significant advent. In Fiji, for
example, and Madagascar, and in southern India, in
Ongole among the Telugus, among the Santals also, and
latest in the Methodist missions in the Northwest Prov-
inces. In cases quite numerous mass conversions are
occurring, whole villages putting themselves under Chris-
tian instruction, hundreds and thousands coming to-

THE PHENOMENON OF MISSIONARY EXPANSION. 141

gether desiring baptism. Even in conservative China
this phenomena begins to appear.

But finally, such remarkable progress, with all this
impressive combination of favoring forces, would never
have been made unless unusual measures of power from
on high had been vouchsafed to this century. It is the
century of missions largely, yes mainly, because it has
been also, beyond any other, a century of revivals, of
quickened and purified spiritual life. The seasons of
refreshing which marked the early decades of the Wes-
leyan movement both in the Old World and the New
have returned with increasing frequency and with added
abundance of blessing. In large measure modern mis-
sions are the direct product of revivals. The vast acces-
sions of vital force must needs expend themselves in
some form of religious activity. And, happily, the zeal
of Christendom was turned away from speculation, the-
ologizing and endless debate, to benevolence, philan-
throphy, sympathy for the needy of every class. Hence
the temperance and anti-slavery reforms, as well as hos-
pitals, asylums, and humane undertakings innumerable,
missions at home and missions abroad, among the rest.

CHAPTER XIII.

MISSIONS IN INDIA.

Hitherto, in tracing the beginning and the unfolding
of modern missionary undertakings, our attention has
been confined mainly to Christendom, to the quick-
ening among the churches of zeal for the world's
evangelization, and to the organization of societies
through whose instrumentality the stupendous task might
be hastened forward to completion. The point of vis-
ion will now be transferred to heathen lands, and i^
various countries the condition without the Gospel wilV
be presented, as well as the circumstances attending the
entrance and progress of the truth as it is in Jesus. And
in all fitness India should hold the first and most promi-
nent place, both because it was the first region to be
entered by missionaries, and also because it surpasses all
others as a field for missionary toil. Within its bound-
aries more societies are represented, and the workmg
force is greater, than is anywhere else to be found. Here
is ** the chief scene of Protestant mission work, upon
which have been concentrated from all sides its numer-
ous and most powerful agencies." India *' is the chief
bulwark of the kingdom of darkness," and its evangel-
ization " is perhaps the most stupendous enterprise the
church of Christ has ever undertaken."

And, at the outset, something about the country, its
physical characteristics, which have an intimate con-

142

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 43

nection with the people. Until within years quite re-
cent the name was Hindostan, the land of the Hindus.
In the largest sense both Ceylon and Burmah are in-
cluded, that is, everything lying between Afghanistan
and Siam, everything from the Himalayas to Cape
Comorin. Thus defined, India is about 1,900 miles
from east to west, and not far from the same distance
from north to south. The proportions are fairly im-
perial and continental, the area being nearly 1,800,000
square miles; or half the size of the United States,
equal to all Europe with Russia omitted, larger than the
Roman Empire by 200,000 square miles, or fifteen times
greater than Great Britain. This vast peninsula, of
triangular shape, is divided into three sections which are
exceedingly unlike. The Himalaya region is mountain-
ous of course. The Ganges basin, including the valleys
of the Indus and the Brahmaputra, is exceedingly fer-
tile and holds a large majority of the inhabitants. The
Deccan is a plateau begirt by mountains, the Vindhya
range upon the north, with the Ghauts upon the east and
west. The Western Ghauts rise near Bombay to an ele-
vation of 4,700 feet, and further south to 8,760, while the
Eastern Ghauts maintain an average height of about
1,500 feet, though with peaks reaching an altitude of
4,000, and one near Madras of 7,000. The general slope
of the inclosed plateau is everywhere to the east. The
coast section is narrow on the western side of the penin-
sula and the mountains rise abruptly, but on the eastern
side is a plain varying in width from fifty to a hundred
miles, which constitutes the Carnatic of history. Taken
as a whole, India contains almost every variety of soil,
climate and physical feature, the dryest and the wettest

144 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

of tracts, the extremes of arctic cold and of torrid heat.
There are deserts where rain is next to unknown, and at
least one locality where the precipitation reaches the
prodigious average of six hundred inches a year. The
greater portion of the country under view lies within the
tropics, is exceedingly hot, and consequently, most try-
ing to the health of those of European and American
birth.

One reason why the Christianization of India is a task
so herculean, is found in the vastness of its population.
According to the census of 1891, upwards of 287,000,-
000 are crowded together upon its acres, or about one-
fifth of all the inhabitants of the globe. For populous-
ness only China is a rival. Africa, though nearly seven
times as large, has but about one-half as many. The
population is equal to that of Europe with Russia omit-
ted. India contains three times as many as the Roman
Empire held when at its best. If the United States
were as thickly settled, we should have some 600,000,-
Z)oo. In Bengal alone three times as many human be-
ings are found as this republic can number, and twice as
many dwell in the Central Provinces. Some Indian
areas surpass for density of population all others on the
face of the earth. The average for the valley of the
Ganges is 500 to the square mile, while 600 are often
found, and sometimes 700. And this host is not massed
in great cities, but upwards of ninety per cent, are agri-
culturists, who dwell in 715,000 towns and villages, of
which 343,000 have an average of less than 200 inhabi-
tants each, and 223,000 between 200 and 500. The
poverty of these hordes approaches to the indescribable

MISSIONS IN INDIA. I45

and unimaginable, while their intellectual and spiritual
condition is in close correspondence.

In order to understand the missionary problem in
India it is necessary to subdivide both the country and
the people in various ways. Thus while nearly 1,000,-
000 square miles go to make up British India, or that
portion of the peninsula which is ruled directly and ab-
solutely by Great Britain, about 800,000 square miles
lie within the limits of the numerous native, or feuda-
tory, or dependent states, which, with certain restric-
tions imposed by the supreme power, are left in the hands
of Hindu or Mohammedan princes. But while the
native states have an aggregate of some 66,000,000 in-
habitants, British India has upwards of 221,000,000.
Then it must never be forgotten that there is no Indian
nation or people. The land is a very Babel, the in-
habitants by race, color, physiognomy, language, intel-
lectual character, social customs and religion, are
sundered as far as are those of Europe ; for example, the
Britons, Turks, French, Irish, Germans, Finns, Italians,
Russians, etc. Some 200 distinct languages and dialects
are spoken between the Himalayas and the Cape. First,
there are the Aryans, or Hindus proper, most numerous
and most intellectual, and numbering 196,000,000.
These are mild, effeminate, timid and servile, especially
in Bengal. Next come the more than 57,000,000 Mo-
hammedans, and composed of a mixture of Arabs,
Afghans, Persians, Tartars, and what-not, who are pos-
sessed of greater pride and energy, are luxurious and
dissolute, warlike and fanatical, and are impatient of
English control. But, from long dwelling side by side,
these two sections of the population have borrowed

146 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

much, each from the other. Next follow the Dravidian
races, like the Telugus and the Tamils of the Central
Provinces and further south, of whom there are some
53,000,000. And finally there are the numerous bodies of
aborigines (hill tribes), some 20,000,000 in all, dwell-
ing each tribe in a district by itself, like the Santals,
Khonds, Bhils, Khols, Karens, etc. If we divide by
religion, we shall have of adherents of Brahmanism
208,000,000, Mohammedans 57,000,000, and several
smaller subdivisions. Sir William Hunter is authority
for the statement that there are at least 60,000,000 who
are either outside of, or so slightly inside of orthodox
Hinduism, or of Islam, that they are easily accessible to
the Gospel. And it comes to this, that in this single
country are found every grade of false faith and worship
from the highest to the lowest, from the Koran with
teachings at various points approaching somewhat to
Christianity, and the theology and morals taught in the
Vedas and the writings of the founder of Buddhism,
to the most degrading superstitions of devil-worship.
*' Here is to be found a form of civilization at some
points intellectual and lofty, and then hard by a state
of affairs which in the social and religious realm reflects
only ignorance and savagery." India contains therefore
a confused jumble and chaos of conditions, peoples,
ideas, and practices. As Professor Seeley well suggests,
it is " not a political name, but only a geographical ex-
pression like Europe or Africa. It does not mark the
territory of a nation and a language, but the territory of
many nations and many languages."

No attempt will be made to present a complete state-
ment concerning the various religions of India, or to set

MISSIONS IN INDIA. I47

forth the doctrines contained in the ancient books.
Some of the salient points, the characteristic features
of a few will be given as they appear in the thoughts and
lives of the people. Nevertheless, here, as always in
matters relating to the land and its inhabitants, such is
the endless diversity that general statements, however
true, are almost certain to be misleading. The specifi-
cations which follow, in the main, will apply only to
the Hindus proper, who constitute about two-thirds of
the population. When missionaries first entered the
country certain phenomena were very prominent, and
made a deep impression, which now possess only a
historic interest, since, thanks to the resolute action of
the British rulers, they have entirely disappeared.
Such was the famous, infamous, worship of Juggernaut,
and suttee, and certain forms of human sacrifice. In-
fanticide also, and Thuggism, the latter for ages a legal-
ized form of murder, practiced with the accompaniment
of religious rites, and the dedication of one-third of the
spoil to the goddess especially interested in such affairs.
Hook-swinging, once common as a form of ascetic self-
infliction in order to win salvation, though forbidden by
law, even yet occasionally occurs. The fakirs, some-
times Hindus and sometimes Mohammedans, are as nu-
merous as ever. One recently appeared in Bombay
who for years, in order to free himself from sin, had
worn upon his body iron chains weighing six hundred
pounds. A prominent part is played in Indian society
by the nautch girls, a numerous class of prostitutes,
whose presence as dancers on all occasions of ceremony
is considered to be essential, the highest English civil
dignitaries also accepting the custom without protest.

143 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Among the enormities is to be named the systematic and
extensive pollution of girls and married women in the
temples, and all in the name of religion, to please the
gods. Polygamy is practiced by Moslems and Hindus
alike, with the accompaniment of the seclusion of
women in zenanas, their abject ignorance, and slavery.
Child marriage too is dreadfully common, and works a
world of sorrow and degradation. Girls are forced into
marriage in tender years, and if the husband dies, the
woeful lot of the widow is theirs for life. The pious
Hindu holds animal life sacred, and it is at least in part
to scruples at this point that we are to attribute the
astounding passiveness and unconcern with which the
ravages of tigers and venomous serpents are endured
It sometimes occurs that public highways are effectually
blockaded for months by tigers, and villages are depop-
ulated. The cobra destroys an average of 20,000 human
lives a year. In 1875-80 no less than 1,073,546 snakes
were killed by British influence, while 103,000 Hindus
perished from their bites.

But last, strangest, and constituting the greatest hin-
drance to the introduction of the gospel, is India's pe-
culiar institution of caste. Nor is this an integral part
of original Brahmanism ; it is not enjoined in the Vedas,
but is of a later growth. The Brahmans, constituting
the highest of the four principal social divisions, are
the priests, number some 20,000,000, affect an awful
sanctity, and are most haughty in their bearing towards
the multitude. Being the learned men after the Indian
fashion, they possess great influence, and as vice-gerents
of the great divinities, at many points make themselves
indispensable. Of late however, since occidental ideas

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 49

have invaded India, and the power of the Gospel has
been felt far and wide among the masses, this sacerdotal
order has sadly fallen from its former high estate.
Especially in the crowded railway carriage the Brahman
is liable to be profanely jostled, and, when reduced to
poverty, is compelled to labor for a livelihood like
common clay. The subdivisions of caste are legion.
Thus the last census took note of no less than 8,363 in
all, including 521 kinds of Brahmans, and 957 varie-
ties of the cultivator caste. A single division of the
merchant caste, the Wanias, has 411 subdivisions, the
carpenter caste has 94 divisions, the blacksmiths 76,
the goldsmiths S6, and the coppersmiths 108. To such
an incredible extent does this pernicious species of bar-
rier-building between man and man prevail that even
the out-castes have their classes, and of the Mahars
there are 244 kinds and 154 of the Mangs. Concern-
ing this phenomenon, Monier Williams says: "It is
difficult for us Europeans to understand how pride of
caste as a divine ordinance interpenetrates the whole
being of the Hindu. He looks upon caste as his ver-
itable god, and those caste rules which we believe to be
a hindrance to the acceptance of the true religion, are
to him the very essence of all religion. They influence
his whole life and conduct." Probably the condition
of the pariahs is as deplorable as that of any portion of
the human family. They are held in contempt by all
above them, have no social or civil rights which others
are bound to respect, the public schools are closed
against them, the public wells and tanks would be fatally
polluted by their use, and in general they are doomed
to the deepest poverty and ignorance, and to the worst

150 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS,

of moral and sanitary conditions. It is the last triumph
of grace, the one convincing evidence of genuine ac-
ceptance of the Gospel, when men of different castes
will meet, and love, and associate as brethren, without
repugnance will sit together at the Lord's table !

A brief outline of Indian history is next in order.
The introduction of this peninsula to the civilized world
occurred as far back as 327 b. c, when Alexander pen-
etrated into the Punjab. But for unknown centuries
before that date, and ever since, invasion and conquest
have been the lot of well-nigh every generation. For,
though upon the north India is marvelously well pro-
tected against outside enemies by gigantic mountain
walls rising to heaven, upon three sides the exposure is
great to attack from the sea. And also, at both the
northeast and the northwest, by way of certain passes
down gorges cut by the Brahmaputra and Ganges
through the Himalayas, a hostile entrance is by no
means difficult. And it was by the Khyber Pass — one
of the most important natural highways upon the earth's
surface, as well as one of the mightiest forces in the
shaping of Indian history — that most of the conquering
hosts have descended. Leaving unmentioned all earlier
irruptions, the Mohammedans began their long series of
assaults in the year 664. Among the most effectual of
their attempts at conquest were the twelve campaigns of
the x\fghan, Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030), who
pushed his dominion far to the east and south of the
Indus. Timour the Tartar was crowned at Delhi in
1398, and Baber, the fifth from Timour, led his irre-
sistible followers down the passes in 1525. Akbar, the
founder of the Mogul Empire, flourished during the

MISSIONS IN INDIA. I5I

reign of Elizabeth of England (i 556-1 605). The
greatest of that line was Aurangzeb (i 658-1 707), though
a fatal decline of power had already set in. Thus, for
seven or eight centuries, host after host of semi-savage
Moslems poured in to ruthlessly burn, pillage, and
slaughter. About the middle of the last century,
within twenty-three years, no less than six such de-
structive incursions occurred.

The Portuguese were the first of Europeans to enter
India, making their advent from the ocean, and coming
merely for purposes of trade. Goa was their commercial
center. It was nearly a hundred years later before any
of the Protestant powers ventured to follow in their foot-
steps. We have already seen, in an earlier chapter, how
the Danes, building far wiser than they knew, the full
import of their deed not appearing until nearly two cen-
turies had passed, in the same year (1616), founded both
Tranquebar and Serampore. The Dutch dispossessed
the Portuguese of Ceylon in 1651, and five years later
opened a factory at Chinsurah, on the Hoogly and some
twenty-five miles above Calcutta. The English, never
dreaming of the imperial dominion in store for them,
first touched Indian soil at Surat in 1614, and between
1630 and 1661 established trading places at Madras, Cal-
cutta and Bombay, with forts and a handful of troops
for their protection. It was almost a hundred years after
that circumstances began to thrust upon this astonished
company of merchants the possession of large territories,
and civil authority without limit. Two forces in par-
ticular conspired together to compel the East India cor-
poration to decide between meddling with energy and
decision in the political affairs of the country, and with-

152 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

drawing altogether from trade with the natives. First,
all matters relating to government and civil authority
were in utter chaos. A few years after the death of Au-
rangzeb the vast empire reared by him fell to pieces, and
generations followed of rebellion, revolution, and armed
strife, unusual even in Indian experience. Between the
" Home of Snow " and the Southern Cape, scores and
hundreds of upstart rulers were crowding their purely
selfish schemes, with universal disorder and violence as
the result. Besides, Frenchmen had entered the land as
traders, and had occupied several localities, some of
them in the vicinity of Madras. From time immemorial
Briton and Gaul had been rivals and antagonists, and
were often at war. About the middle of the eighteenth
century, and while the Seven Years' War was raging,
Dupleix was found at the head of French interests in
India, a man of consummate ability in the realm of
statecraft, and full of ambition and far-reaching plans
He soon perceived that the Hindu, trained by Europeaa
officers, would make a reliable soldier. And further,
that in the prevalent anarchy, with troops thus secured,
by siding with certain native aspirants for political power,
he could advance his own interests most effectually.
And then, almost of necessity, he came into collision
with his British neighbors. How marvelous the coinci-
dence, by the crushing defeat of Montcalm on the Plains
of Abraham in 1759 Catholic France was forever driven
from North America, and in the year following, by an-
other as disastrous at Wandewash, she was driven from
the Indian peninsula, from henceforth leaving British in-
fluence supreme, and almost without a European rival.
And what is especially of importance, the conquerors in

MISSIONS IN INDIA. I53

this strife never forgot the lesson taught them by Dupleix.
Now it is that the East India Company ceases to be
simply an incorporated body of merchants, and plays
hereafter, often perhaps too thoroughly, the role of con-
queror and sovereign. But still further, two years before
Wolfe's victory had been won. Colonel Clive had made
an achievement in the vicinity of Calcutta almost as de-
cisive, and leading to results perhaps fully as memorable.
The reference of course is to his overwhelming victory
at Plassey over Surajah Dowlah and his hordes of Hin-
dus, a battle fought to avenge the shocking barbarities of
the Black Hole. By that single stroke Bengal, with all
its teeming millions, became British territory. From
that day to this, sometimes it must be confessed with
aims and by means utterly without justification, but per-
haps oftenest rather under the urgency of a real political
necessity, the boundaries of British rule have been stead-
ily enlarging until now nothing is left in the peninsula
not really subject to Queen Victoria.

It cannot but be esteemed one of the world's wonders
how the almost 300,000,000 of Indians are held in sub-
jection by the about 100,000 Englishmen to be found in
the land. So tremendously outnumbered are the rulers
— only about one European to 3,000 Asiatics — that as
some adept in figures has calculated, if each Hindu
should take up a handful of dirt and cast it upon the in-
truding foreigners, they all would be buried under six
feet depth of soil ! To be sure, a standing army is
maintained, numbering some 75,000 Europeans and
160,000 natives, with a well-drilled police force in addi-
tion of 150,000 mostly armed with guns or swords.
But besides, 18,000 miles of railroads have been con-

154 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

structed to connect all the principal cities, and a splen-
did system of public roads, nearly 150,000 miles in all,
of which 33,400 are metaled, as well as nearly 40,000
miles of telegraph lines. Millions have been expended
upon public works like bridges, reservoirs, and irrigation
canals. Of the latter, one stretches through the valley
of the Ganges for 437 miles, with 3,576 miles of distrib-
utaries, and another is found in the Punjab, 542 miles in
length, with 4,385 miles of subordinate canals, while in
the Madras Presidency these works, so essential in guard-
ing against famines, are most extensive and costly of all.
But far better to strengthen and perpetuate British sov-
ereignty, is the good government everywhere maintained.
Justice is secured to all, and peace, absolute freedom
from despotic exactions, with safety to person and prop-
erty. The method of government is peculiar, and varies
greatly according to circumstances. While a portion of
the population is subject to legal codes thoroughly Eng-
lish and civilized, many are governed much as their
fathers were centuries ago. This diversity in the kind
and degree of control is found mainly in the native, or
feudatory states. These are all nominally under the rule
of Hindu or Mohammedan princes, but really only
with the help and in accordance with the advice of a
British resident or agent. They have no right to make
war or peace, or to send ambassadors to each other, or
to governments outside of India. They are not allowed
to maintain a military force beyond a certain limit. No
European is permitted to reside at court without especial
sanction. And in case of misgovernment on their part,
the penalty of dethronement may be inflicted. But with
these restrictions, the native chiefs possess sovereign au-

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 55

thority. Some of them, like the Nizam whose dominions
cover 100,000 square miles, collect large revenues, and
surround themselves with oriental magnificence, while the
sway of others is confined to a domain ridiculously
meagre. The native state of Kathiawar has an area of
22,000 square miles, and a population of 2,600,000 ; but
is subdivided into 182 separate and distinct states, of
which 132 pay tribute to the nawab (nabob) of Juna-
garh, ninety-six pay tribute to the supreme government,
and thirteen pay no tribute at all. So far as possible,
consistently with safety and the general welfare, local
self-government is allowed and encouraged. Moreover,
various schools are maintained, in which the natives are
trained to fitness to fill important public positions. An
educational system is in vogue which dates from 1854,
and comprises a total of 138,350 schools of all grades,
in which some 3,700,000 are receiving instruction, while
12,000,000 more are able to read and write. But after
all that has been done by the government and by the
various missions, it remains that only 19.3 per cent, of
the boys of school age are found in the schools, and
only 1.8 per cent, of the girls. Normal schools are es-
tablished in every province, and various medical colleges
to train the natives for service in the numerous public
hospitals and dispensaries. In general it may be
affirmed that, at least for the last fifty years, at the head
of affairs in India have for the most part been found
only men of the highest intellectual ability and moral
worth, able statesmen, and worthy exponents of Chris-
tianity, who honestly, earnestly, and effectually, sought
to rule in righteousness, and with the utmost of benefit
to all classes of the people.

156 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

So much for India, the country, its history, its peo-
ples, and their present rulers. We come now to the story
of the beginnings of the Gospel, and its progress towards
the fulness of strength. The far-off date cannot be given
when for the first time the glad tidings crossed the Him-
alayas. Butby the middle of the fourth century churches
were found upon the Malabar Coast, and the Nestorians,
so long famous for their missionary zeal, may have pushed
down through the Khyber Pass, bent on errands of love.
Certain it is that the light then kindled has never since
been entirely extinguished. Modern missions in the land
of the Hindus date from 1706, when the Danish-Halle
work was begun at Tranquebar, by Ziegenbalg and Plut-
scho, and in which so long Lutherans and Calvinists,
Danes, Germans and English were so harmoniously
united. The number of laborers was always small, and
ihese were usually crippled for lack of financial support,
as well as by vexatious interference on the part of the ec-
clesiastical authorities at home. It was only after great
delay that ordination was secured for native ministers.
In addition, the well-meant but unfortunate attempt
was made to compromise with caste prejudices. These
hindrances, with the disturbances connected with the
frequent wars of the period, combined finally to bring the
mission to the verge of ruin. The career of Schwartz
was illustrious in almost every particular, covering nearly
a half century (1750-98), and filled with deeds of the
noblest and most self-denying kind. Such were his
shining qualities of both mind and heart, that he was often
counseled with by the British authorities upon important
matters of state, and he also gained the absolute confi-
dence and affection of such sturdy and unscrupulous

MISSIONS IN INDIA. I57

Hindu-Mohammedan foes as Hyder Ali. At his death a
monument was erected in his honor by the Rajah of Tan-
jore, and another of great cost and beauty was reared in
Madras by the East India Company.

As Schwartz was nearing the end of his course in south-
ern India, the God of missions was preparing an instru-
ment even greater than he, and one by whose labors, far
more than by those of any other, the whole land was at
length to be opened and filled with the gospel of salva-
tion. As was most fitting, this new empire, being an
English possession, was to be Christianized mainly by
those speaking the English tongue, though the whole
Christian world was to presently make ready, and go up
together to conquer this vast and populous realm for Im-
manuel. Carey was the divinely chosen leader, who,
janding in Calcutta from the Danish East Indiaman, first
set foot on Indian soil November ii, 1793. The way
had slightly been prepared for his coming. Thus Kier-
nander, formerly of the Tranquebar mission, had been
transferred from Madras to the Hoogly as far back as
1758, and ever since had been in labors abundant alike
for English, Portuguese and Hindus. A few earnest and
devoted Christian men were found in the city from among
the servants of the Company. Such were Charles Grant,
Mr. Udney, and David Brown, chaplain of the Military
Orphans' College. As early as 1 778 they had commenced
to agitate for the introduction of the gospel, and Mr.
Grant had offered to give jQ2>^o a year for the support of
two missionaries. In 1 783 John Thomas had come out
as a surgeon and had given himself zealously to the task
of evangelizing the natives. To secure funds for the en-
largement of his undertaking, he had gone home and

158 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

thus had come into contact with the new-born Baptist
Society and with Carey, and thus the latter was provi-
dentially led to this portion of the pagan world. Claud-
ius Buchanan (i 796-1 808), while filling the position of
chaplain, rendered invaluable service by tongue and pen,
while Henry Martyn, another chaplain (1806-12), kin^
died a fervor for missions which has not died out to this
day.

The situation as Carey found it cannot be understood
without some reference to the attitude then recently taken
by the East India Company as touching the introduction
of Christianity into their domain, and which was in some
measure maintained almost to the end of his life. In
former times no repugnance had been felt towards mis-
sionaries. They had been permitted to enter freely, and
without let or hindrance carry on their work, and some-
times had even been granted free passage. Kiernander
had taken up his residence in Calcutta at the express re-
quest of Colonel Clive, while, as we have seen, Schwartz
was held in high favor, and was the recipient of distin-
guished post mortem honors. But a change of sentiment
began to appear when Grant and his friends, with Wil-
berforce for champion, urged upon Parliament to provide
for India a complete religious establishment. Party lines
were drawn and the debate was acrimonious. The char-
ter of the Company was to be renewed for twenty years
in 1793, a few months before the fight reached its fiercest
stage, and ended for the time in a victory for the policy
of exclusion of all religious effort in behalf of the natives,,
The opposition to missionary activity was inspired by va-
rious considerations. Of course religious indifference,
not to say malignant hatred to Christianity, played a

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 59

large part. Too many of the ''old Indians " had suc-
cumbed to the manifold allurements which had beset their
steps, with serious damage to their morals. Then the
idea was quite prevalent that the Company was not in the
least responsible for the intellectual and spiritual well-
being of the millions of Moslems and Hindus, and hence
was under no sort of obligation to undertake aught in
their behalf. They had their ancient religions and social
customs, and, whether for good or evil, let these remain
as they are. There was an absurd affectation of superior
toleration and breadth of sympathy, and a disposition to
maintain that Brahmanism, and Buddhism, and the devil
worship of the aboriginal tribes were actually better for
the people than a faith and practice which they could
never appreciate. Hence, on the part of not a few in
authority, there was a readiness to excuse and wink at
the worst abominations to be found, and even to deri\'i
from them a pecuniary benefit. But beyond all this there
was something in the evident facts in the case which ap-
pealed mightily to the fears of the timid. There was
that vast population, most bigoted, and all ablaze with
fanaticism. Therefore, how suicidal to British interests
to allow missionaries to travel up and down in the effort
to make proselytes. It would be only to provoke an ex-
plosion, whose result would be the death of every Euro-
pean. The few thousands could continue in the land
only by refraining carefully from all lines of action cal-
culated to excite the passions of the multitude. After
the mutiny at Vellore in 1806 this morbid fear was still
further strengthened.

But, notwithstanding, the moral sentiment of Christian
England had begun to assert itself, and temporary defeat

l6o A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

only tended to add to its depth and breadth. The dis-
cussion went steadily on, with Carey and a few other
missionaries, barely tolerated in India to lend efficient
assistance, and when the charter was, in 1813, to be once
more renewed, an amendment was carried, to the effect
that ''it is the duty of this country to promote in India
the introduction of useful knowledge, and of religious and
moral improvement, and that facilities be afforded by law
to persons desirous of going to and remaining in India,
to accomplish these benevolent designs." A bishopric
was also provided for, with an archdeacon for each one of
the three Presidencies. It was not, however, until after yet
another amendment to the charter, introduced in 1833,
that the gospel was suffered to have free course through-
out British India. The first missionary to enter any of
the native states was not allowed the opportunity until
1841, when the Irish Presbyterian Church occupied Ka-
thiawar.

The great Mutiny of 1857 may very properly betaken
as the dividing line between the ancient and the modern
periods in the history of efforts for the evangelization
of the Hindus, and in length each portion is not far
from a half century. The first was the time of begin-
nings, the day of small things. This mightiest fortress
of paganism was not to be taken by bold and sudden
assault. A protracted siege was required instead, and
so an investment must be made, extensive works were to
be constructed, and adequate forces gathered, the artil-
lery put in position, and the sappers and miners set to
their tasks. That is, the numerous languages were to be
mastered, and translations of the Bible made and pub-
lished. Schools were to be opened, and a generation of

MISSIONS IN INDIA. l6l

native helpers raised up and prepared for their calling.
And all this, while at home public opinion was bringing
the recreant Company to reason and conscience, and
while British authority in the peninsula was receiving
steady enlargement and consolidation. The bloody
Marathi wars in the early decades of the century
brought substantial increase of territory, as well as the
two campaigns against the Sikhs in the forties, and the
two struggles for mastery with Burmah. In 1850 con-
siderably less than a score of societies were represented
in the land by 339 foreign ordained agents, by 21 or-
dained natives and 493 other native assistants, while the
communicants numbered but 14,661, and the native
adherents all told, but 91,091.

For various reasons, the sudden and terrible outburst
in 1857 of combined race-hatred and religious fanati-
cism, was of profound significance for India, and was
wondrously overruled for the enlargement of Christian-
ity. For one thing, it brought to an end, at once and
forever, the East India Company, after a career of more
than 250 years. Having long since fulfilled its mission
and outlived its usefulness, this mightiest and most fam-
ous of commercial corporations went out of existence
*' unwept, unhonored and unsung." From henceforth
the land of the Hindus was to constitute an integral part
of the British Empire, and was to be governed directly
and completely by Parliament. And, by the unutter-
able barbarities which attended the Mutiny, there was
thrust upon British statesmen, and British Christians, a
knowledge of the spiritual condition of the popula-
tion, and a deep conviction that, at least for Britain's
sake, if not for the sake of these degraded millions of

1 62 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

subjects, the humanizing, elevating gospel must be car-
ried at the soonest to every community from the board-
ers of Thibet to the Malabar Coast. A remarkable
awakening of missionary zeal ensued, and within a de-
cade or two some hundreds of devoted men and women
were despatched to engage in loving, self-denying toil
for all classes alike, whether semi -savage hill tribes and
pariahs, or Brahmans and Mohammedans, and repre-
senting almost every considerable denomination of
America and Europe. The supreme government,
.hough scrupulously neutral in religious matters, and al-
lowing the largest liberty to all faiths consistent with
^ood order, is yet resolute at many points in forbidding
violations of morals and decency, and in various ways
renders indirect assistance to the heralds of the cross.
Thus, English courts compel obedience to law, and no
more can the native Christian be robbed of all property
rights by legal process. Grants-in-aid are freely allowed
to mission schools upon certain conditions, and many
Englishmen filling important stations in the civil and
military service, not only adorn the gospel by godly
lives, but also on all occasions act and speak in behalf
of the Lord they love. As a result of the wise and
patient seed-sowing of the pioneers and founders during
the first half of the century, combined with the vastly
more favorable environments existing in later years, the
ingathering has been relatively very large, and visible
progress, all things considered, has been astonishing,
and full of encouragement at every point. To-day in
every province and in almost every state of India, mis-
sionaries of both sexes are to be found, with schools,
hospitals, dispensaries, etc., as powerful auxiliaries.

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 163

Thousands of zenanas are wide open, inviting Christian
women to enter and utter the word of life. And every
year the indications multiply, and become more unmis-
takable, that a new and glorious era is approaching, in
which millions will be seen flocking to Jesus for salva-
tion. Already the number of ordained missionaries has
nearly reached 1,000 with ordained natives almost as
many, and with other toilers native and foreign suffi-
cient to raise the total of the evangelizing force to but
little if any less than 10,000. And as standing for the
harvest of souls, let these figures suffice : The com-
municants aggregate about 235,000, and the adherents
(native Christians) some 750,000, or if the Roman
Catholics are included, 2,500,000. Upwards of 300,-
000 children are gathered in the various mission schools.
How changed from November of 1793 when Carey landed
in Calcutta ! What hath God wrought !

In pursuing the thrilling narrative of the onward
movement of the kingdom of heaven in India, it re-
mains to single out a few of the societies, which were
earliest in the field, or which have been especially
blessed with abundant fruit, and to present in brief out-
line some of the more striking phases of their work.
Many volumes would not be sufficient to tell all that
here has been dared, and endured, and achieved, for
Him who commanded, '' Go ye into all the world." As
a matter of course, we set forth from the Baptist So-
ciety, and from Carey and Thomas, " who landed un-
observed, coming in a ship which had cleared from a
foreign port, but escaped arrest and deportation only be-
cause their presence and mission were unknown." For
months following, they struggled with all manner of

1 64 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

embarrassments, and seriously lacked the very necessa-
ries of life, " enduring hardships unknown to any other
missionaries in India before or since." But what stal-
wart faith was present to sustain, is seen in this record
made one day in his diary when the external situation
was at the worst (the words are well worth repeating) :
'* Well, I have God, and his word is sure ; and though
the superstitions of the heathen were a million times
worse than they are, if I were deserted by all, and per-
secuted by all, yet my hope, fixed on that word, will
rise superior to all obstructions, and triumph over all
trials. God's cause will triumph, and I shall come out
of all trials as gold purified by fire." For comfort he
reads David Brainerd. Then they removed to Bandel,
a Portuguese settlement thirty miles up the river, where
Carey was to support himself by farming, and Thomas
was to live by the practice of medicine ; but some
months later both are found located in "the waste
jungles of the Sunderbunds, in the tiger-haunted swamps
lying to the east of Calcutta." But in the meantime,
not in the least neglecting the diligent study of various
languages, or any opportunity of offering to the natives
the bread of life. So passed the first year, and then the
dark skies began to brighten. For a Mr. Udney offered
to each a situation as indigo planter, in the Dinajpore
district one hundred and fifty miles up the Ganges, with
a salary of ;£25o. This occupation was followed for
six years, their time being divided between the secular
duties of superintendence, and study and translating the
Scriptures, as well as teaching and preaching. In 1799
a large reinforcement to the mission arrived, with
Marshman and Ward among the rest, in an American

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 65

vessel, and at the suggestion of Mr. Grant, one of the
directors of the Company, passing by Calcutta and as-
cending the river to Serampore, a Danish possession.
Here a cordial welcome was accorded them by Governor
Bie, who for years had been under the influence of
Schwartz in Tanjore, with an invitation to remain, and
a promise of protection and assistance. And when
later a demand was made that these dangerous ''inter-
lopers " be surrendered, in order that they might be sent
back to England, this doughty commandant refused, and
declared his determination to shield the missionaries with
all the force at his disposal. Next, under a Danish pass,
a visit was made to Carey, and though much against his
will, he was finally persuaded to fix the seat of the mission
at Serampore. What if the Danes had not opened a
factory upon the Hoogly in 1616 ?

Thus marvelously it came about, after seven long and
weary years of waiting, that in the first year of the new
century something systematic, and substantial, and en-
during, could be undertaken in the shape of regular
public services, schools, translating and printing. For
economy's sake all the missionaries dwelt together, and
had all things common. Almost at once, a variety of
institutions began to appear and to steadily develop.
Before the end of the twelvemonth the first Hindu con-
vert, Krishna Pal, was baptized, over which event,
for excess of joy, poor Thomas went insane for weeks.
The year following saw Carey installed as teacher of
Bengali and Sanscrit in the Company's College of Fort
William, with a salary of ;£7oo, and raised later to
;£i,8oo ! From this income so much was saved that,
with what Marshman and the others could earn by

1 66 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

teaching, etc., the Serampore Brotherhood were able to
contribute to the mission in all ^90,000 ($450,000).
A full third of a century remained on earth for this im-
mortal father of modern Protestant missions, in which
to unfold his far-reaching and multitudinous plans, and
behold the fruits of his prayers and toils. His direct
aim and endeavor took in nothing else than the entire
eastern world, with the redemption of its teeming mil-
lions. More particularly, he undertook to give them in
their own tongues the priceless message of salvation, and
applied himself with such boundless energy and skill
that he lived to see the Scriptures, or portions thereof,
published in not less than forty of the languages or dia-
lects of southern Asia. Besides this, he gave himself
with all diligence to the performance of his duties in
Ihe college. Though with prudence and caution, yet
plainly and with fearlessness, he uttered his protests
against the policy of the Company in countenancing the
abominations of paganism while putting Christianity
under the ban, and happily lived to see that policy over-
thrown. And finally, all along and without cessation,
he tugged away with tongue and pen at the herculean
and most discouraging task of arousing the Christian
world to earnestness in praying and giving, and in or-
ganizing to send their sons and daughters to bear the
glad tidings to every land. And here, too, he was per-
mitted to behold wondrous advancement. As to his
own mission, by 18 13 it had grown to thirty stations in
northern India, including Patna, Agra and Orissa, and
manned with sixty-three European and native laborers.
Aud with what enterprise the work was pushed appears
in the fact that it was in Serampore that India saw the

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 67

first large printing press, paper mill and steam engine
set up, the first vernacular newspaper printed in Bengali,
and the first efforts put forth for the education of Hindu
girls and women.

The London Society was early in the Indian field.
Mr. Forsyth was sent to Calcutta in 1798, but located him-
self at Chinsurah, a Dutch factory, some twenty miles up
the river. Here he toiled alone until 181 2, and with lit-
tle apparent effect. The next missionaries were sent to
the southern portion of the peninsula, in which also, next
to Madagascar, its most extensive victories for the king-
dom have been gained. In 1805 work was begun in
Madras, the next year in Vizagapatam, far up the coast
of the Bay of Bengal in the Northern Circars; in 1820
at Bangalore, and in 1824 at Cuddapah, both some
distance to the northwest of Madras. It was in the
field last named that, about two decades later, occurred
a wholesale renunciation of idolatry on the part of the
out-caste Malas. The kingdom of Travancore, a native
state in the extreme southwest of India, entered in 1809,
Tith Nagercoil and Trevandrum among the chief sta-
tions, has been the scene of large ingatherings. Nearly
300 out-stations are supplied with the means of grace,
and about 50,000 native Christians are under religious
training. Missionaries were sent to Calcutta in 181 7,
to Benares three years later, and since to various other
points in Bengal. This society is now represented by
95 Europeans of both sexes, as well as by 42 ordained
natives and 445 native preachers. Into the 630 schools
34,853 pupils are gathered, while the church members
number 9,449 and the native Christians 71,000.

The Church of England performs its part towards the

l68 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

evangelization of the hosts of the Queen's subjects in
southern Asia largely through two organizations, the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which is in the
hands of the ritualistic party, and the Church Mission-
ary Society, controlled by the evangelicals. Though
working separately, and sometimes holding the attitude
of rivals to each other, it will be convenient to regard
their work as a unit, and speak only of combined
results. Before Carey sailed, an attempt, fortunately a
failure, had been made to set up the Establishment in
India, and so with Parliament to manage missions.
So long as Christianity was excluded by law, churchmen
sat with folded hands viewing the abominations and
woes of idolatry with slight concern. But, soon after
the amendment of the Company's charter in 1813, a
movement was started to lay foundations for the Gospel
in each of the three chief cities ; in due season various
other subordinate points were occupied, and ever since
the work has been spreading in all directions, until now
in almost every province, north, south, east, and west,
English Episcopacy is found acting upon the aggressive
against heathenism with all manner of weapons, and
constitutes one of the chief factors in the coming evan-
gelization of the land. In Madras, work was begun as
early as 18 15, in Calcutta the next year, the year fol-
lowing in Benares and in Ceylon ; in Bombay in 1820,
etc. Among the chaplains who performed distinguished
services may be named such as Claudius Buchanan
(i 796-1808,) and Henry Martyn (1805-12). Bishop
Heber commenced his brief but brilliant career in 1825.
The Church work finds the climax of results in the
south, with Tinnevelly as the center, where in 1838 vil-

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 69

lage movements to Christianity set in, and within about
four years 18,000 cast away their idols. In this district
more than 1,000 villages contain true disciples of Jesus.
In Madras also the work has progressed so far that it is
committed wholly to native hands. The Khols of Chota
Nagpore, a province of Bengal, have supplied some 50,-
000 converts to the Propagation Society and Gossner's
(German) Society together. Combining all the missions
from Ceylon to the Khyber Pass, we have such large
figures as these : The Church of England is represented
by 203 ordained missionaries, 249 ordained natives and
890 native lay preachers, 55,000 communicants, and
198,000 native Christians.

As we have seen, the American Board commissioned
five men for India in 181 2, and after months of greatest
uncertainty and embarrassment, work was opened in
Bombay. This proved to be a barren field, but work of
all kinds was pushed with the utmost vigor of faith and
love. In the forties occurred an outburst of Hindu op-
position, in alarm over the encroachments of the new re-
ligion. The pagan press was employed with such ardor,
that at one time ten papers and magazines were in full
blast in the effort to save the temples and priests from
ruin. In 1847 the Bible was issued in Marathi. In 1831
a mission was opened in Ahmednagar 175 miles back
from Bombay, to which several stations have since been
added. Ceylon was entered by five men in 18 15, and
the government was found favorable to their designs.
They were allowed the use of certain churches and
glebes left behind by the Catholic Portuguese, and the
Bible had been translated into Tamil by the Dutch while
in possession of the island. Reinforcements came within

170 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

four years, and for nearly a quarter of a century revivals
frequent and extensive were enjoyed. In 1834 the nar-
row strait was crossed, and to the Tamils on the conti-
nent the Gospel was carried. Madura was chosen as the
seat of a mission, and ever since has proved a fruitful
field. Some years later came a fierce struggle with caste,
with a serious falling away for a season, but ending in
defeat for those who would maintain between brethren
barriers of pride and prejudice. In Madras (1836-51)
a large printing establishment was kept busy pouring out
a varied Christian literature. This society has now upon
Indian soil three missions, with 453 stations and out-
stations, manned by 79 American laborers, and 1,279
natives, of whom 301 are preachers. The churches
number 93 and the church members 8,259, the native
Christians 21,000, the schools 447, and the scholars
19,824.

With the first missionaries of the American Board
Judson had crossed the ocean, but before reaching Cal-
cutta had so changed his opinions as to make it neces-
sary to change also his ecclesiastical connections. It was
as a Baptist that he set foot on shore in Rangoon in July
of 18 13. Burmah was then wholly pagan, and the gov-
ernment was one of the most cruel and tyrannical to be
found even in the Orient. But for all this, it was a
country more tolerable for those who would introduce
the gospel than the dominions ruled by the " Christian "
East India Company. It was the lot of this gifted, and
most heroic, and devoted servant of God to have his
path beset almost to the end of his life with appalling
difficulties, and perils, and sufferings as great as any ever
endured by any herald of tlie cross in heathen lands.

MISSIONS IN INDIA. I7I

From among the Burmans proper he saw little fruit from
his toils, and this mainly because of the determined and
ruthless opposition of the powers that were. He found
a people numbering perhaps 8,000,000, and occupying
some 300,000 square miles. Buddhism was the domin-
ant faith, but among the numerous aboriginal tribes, like
the Shans, Karens, etc., a gross devil worship prevailed.
For several years Judson was left to endure alone, that is
with only his wife to cheer and strengthen, the famous
Ann Hasseltine, a woman for intellectual gifts and spir-
itual graces, for courage, resolution, and fervor of love,
a worthy helpmeet. The tedious time of waiting was
occupied in study of the language, preparation of tracts,
etc., and in work upon a translation of the Scriptures,
meanwhile seeking in vain for the royal permission to
begin openly to proclaim Christ to the people. It was
during this period that when asked concerning the out-
look he replied : ** It is as bright as the promises of
God." And again, when inquired of in relation to re-
sults, the answer was: *'Wait twenty years and then
look this way again." After six years the first helpers
came from America, and the first convert was baptized.
In 1824 the first Burma n war broke out, and, suspected
of being a spy in the interests of Britain, he was arrested,
and for two years constantly faced death from fever,
heat, hunger, and brutal treatment in filthy prisons ; for
seventeen months wearing three, and part of the time
five, pairs of fetters. During this terrible scene of trial
his wife exerted herself in his behalf in every possible
way, ministering to his wants and seeking his release,
** walking miles in feeble health, in the darkness of night
or under the burning sun, much of the time with a babe

172 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

in her arms." Such was the strain to body and spirit,
that not long after her husband was set at liberty and
the war was over, a deadly fever set in and ended her
career upon earth. During an ensuing period of confu-
sion and uncertainty the mission was moved about be-
tween Rangoon, Amherst and Maulmain. In 1827 other
missionaries arrived, among them Mr. Boardman, and
presently work was commenced among the Karens, a
tribe justly famous in Christian annals for its readiness
to receive the truth. In 1834 the translation of the
Bible was ready for use, and an addition of fifteen was
made to the working force. Judson survived till 1850,
two years afterwards the second Burmese war befell,
forced upon the British by the pride and presumption of
the king ; with a third conflict produced in a similar
way by King Thebaw in 1885, which ended in the an-
nexation of Burmah to India. In these results is to be
found the monument to this illustrious soldier of the
cross, who risked all for his Master. And who shall say
that the achievement is not well worth all the cost ? The
mission force in Burmah consists of 828 persons, includ-
ing 158 ordained natives, the schools number 505 with
15,306 scholars, and the churches 580, of which 337 are
self-supporting, with a membership of 34,672. The na-
tive contributions reach ^50,000 annually. The native
Christians number some 200,000. The Propagation So-
ciety, the Berlin Society, the English Wesleyans, and
the American Episcopalians, are also engaged in the
evangelization of Burmah, with a total of 16 mission-
aries, 6 native laborers, and 7,577 communicants.

The English Wesleyans, though so intensely busy seek-
ing the complete redemption of Great Britain, were yet

MISSIONS IN INDIA. I73

also not strangers to zeal for missions in the broader sense.
Coke had been appointed superintendent for all world-
wide schemes of propagandizing. Burning with desire to
minister to the needs of the heathen, he had offered to
give jQ6,ooo to found a mission in Ceylon, and in 1813
the Conference had appointed him and six more to pro-
ceed thither. He died upon the long voyage ; the others
soon fixed themselves at Colomba and elsewhere, gave
their energies with fulness of devotion to what their hands
found to do, and were rewarded by seeing souls turning
to righteousness. In 1817 Madras was entered in the
Lord's name, and later Bangalore, Trichinopoly, My-
sore and Seringapatam were occupied. Later still mis-
sionaries were sent into Hyderabad, the Mohammedan
state (Nizam's Dominions); to Calcutta also, Benares,
Lucknow, etc., in northern India. At the end of eighty
years from the first of the pioneers, this body of believers
has in this broad field 150 missionaries and assistants, pro-
claiming Christ in about 500 preaching places, with a band
of 2,083 evangelists, catechists, local preachers, etc. The
*' full and accredited " members number 7,249, and the
attendants on public worship 30,932. The schools num-
ber 635 and the scholars 39,452.

It was an event of no ordinary importance for the land
of the Hindus when, in 1829, the Church of Scotland
appointed Alexander Duff to open work in behalf of the
perishing millions. For here was a remarkable person-
ality, a man of tremendous energy, full of enthusiasm
and holy zeal. Calcutta was chosen as the scene of his
life labors, which continued for almost fifty years. His
special design was to open a collegiate institute, in
which the youth of India could gain the higher educa-

174 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

tion (a), with English rather than the vernacular as the
medium for giving instruction in western sciences, and
(b) with the Bible everywhere in the forefront. It was
a shocking innovation to many, but he carried his point
and succeeded so wondrously that the learned Oriental-
ists owned themselves beaten, and gave up the fight for
Sanscrit as the best language for all higher uses. Other
similar institutions were founded in Bombay by Wil-
son, another missionary of great eminence, by An-
derson in Madras, and by Hislop in Nagpore, the latter
receiving the gift of ;^ 13,000 from an officer in the
Indian army. In 1843 came the disruption in the Scot-
tish church, whereby the Free Church came into ex-
istence, and became heir to all the missionaries then
in the field, though the property was retained by the Es-
tablishment. A number of the educational institutions
were soon duplicated ; both divisions pushed forward the
work of evangelization with commendable vigor, and,
ever since, each has often provoked the other to good
works. Probably more than any others, these two bodies
have pushed the intellectual phases of Christianity, and
as many judge sometimes almost to the exclusion of the
spiritual. The Established Church, beginning just when
the British nation was awakening to a sense of its obliga-
tions to its Hindu and Mohammedan subjects, has ex-
pended the bulk of its energies upon them. Twelve prin°
cipal stations are maintained in various regions between
the Himalayas and the Cape, with 14 European and 96
native agents, 862 communicants and 3,903 native Chris-
tians, 89 schools and 4,811 scholars. The Free Church
is represented by 31 ordained missionaries and 10 or-
dained natives, and a total force of 475. The communi-

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 75

cants number 2,186, the adherents about as many more,
the schools 191, and the scholars 13^482.

The Presbyterians of America until 1870 were largely
connected with the American Board, but as far back as
1833, the year in which India was opened to the entrance
of the gospel, a company of missionaries was sent to the
Northwest Provinces and the Punjab, the latter at the
time constituting the kingdom of the fanatical Sikhs,
with Runjeet Singh the Lion as their ruler. One station
after another was occupied until the line stretched over
some 900 miles, or from Allahabad to Rawal Pindi, not
far from Khyber Pass, and with Lahore, Lodiana and
Futtegurh among the important centers. The work was
much hindered by the two bloody Sikh wars in the for-
ties, while during the Mutiny not only was much prop-
erty destroyed, but three missionaries, with their wives
and children, were captured and put to death. It was
the next year, and as a result of such dreadful experi-
ences, that the Lodiana mission sent out to Christendom
a pathetic call to prayer for the world's conversion, sug-
gesting the opening days of January as a fitting period,
and thus originated the ''Week of Prayer." With all the
other instrumentalities employed to rescue the individual
soul and to construct all manner of Christian institutions,
special prominence has been given to work in zenanas
and among lepers. Including Kolhapur, in Central In-
dia, so intimately associated with Rev. R. G. Wilder, the
mission of the Presbyterian Church, North, includes 35
ordained Americans and 26 ordained natives, 50 lay mis-
sionaries, and a total force of 406. In the 30 churches
are 1,796 members, and in the 147 schools 8,399 schol-
ars.

176 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

It is more than doubtful if the history of missions
contains a chapter more remarkable in all its parts than
the one which relates to the work of the American Bap-
tists among the Telugus. Of this people there are some
20,000,000, located for the most part in southern India,
and the portion now under view are found dwelling to
the north of Madras, not far from the Bay of Bengal.
The first missionary went out in 1835, but did not un-
dertake work in Nellore until four years after. Obstacles
of all sorts, and unusually great, even for India, were
met with. So rigid were caste rules that it was scarcely
possible to enter the houses. Men, too, were lacking as
well as funds, and so the mission long hovered between
life and death, while at home more than once, after
serious discussion, the decision was imminent to retire
from the field. At the end of two decades, only one
native assistant could be reported, one church with nine
members, and two schools with 6;^ pupils. After twelve
years of discouraging toil, Mr. Jewett came home in
1863 worn out and in feeble health, was informed how
the Society felt, and was asked for his opinion. His
heroic reply has become historic: ''Well, brethren, I
do not know what your mind is, but if the Lord restores
my health, I am going back to live, and if need be to
die, among the Telugus." And this was the conclusion
reached : * * Then we must send a man over to give you
a Christian burial." Two years later Rev. J. E. Clough
was on the ground, and found but twenty-five converts
after thirty years of endeavor, while four other societies
in the same general field were no better off. But pres-
ently a change began to appear. A church was organ-
ized at Ongole which in ten years had a membership of

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 77

2,761, while in the entire mission were 3,832 communi-
cants. Then ensued several terrible years of combined
flood, cholera, and famine, the latter so severe as to de-
stroy some 6,000,000 lives. Food was furnished by the
government, and extensive public works were constructed
to supply labor, and Mr. Clough, who had formerly
been an engineer, was put in charge of a portion. By
1878 the wholesale demand for baptism had become
irresistible. The applicants were turned away, the day
of trial was postponed, and the examinations were made
most searching, but in spite of all, in six weeks 8,691
were admitted to the churches, 2,222 in a single day.
In one day 1,000 came to the compound of the Ongole
station and gave up their idols. And ever since the
work has gone on in similar fashion, and the interest
has spread in all directions. In 1892 the baptisms
numbered 3,398. These hosts of converts were mainly
from the lowest of the people, though not a few belong
to the higher castes and some are Brahmans. According
to the latest returns this ''Lone Star" mission has 87
members from America, of whom 42 are men, 66 or-
dained natives and a total force of 602. The 77
churches have a membership of 54,986, while 7,565
scholars are found in the 632 schools. Evidently, the
efforts to evangelize the Telugus are not a '' failure."

The American Methodists were somewhat later in en-
tering the boundless Indian field. Though an appro-
priation for the purpose was made in 1852, it was four
years later before Rev. William Butler was ready to
break ground. The Northwest Provinces were chosen
as the district, and Bareilly as the center. But
scarcely had he made a beginning when the Mutiny

178 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

broke out, and he was compelled to flee for his life.
When the terror w-as over reinforcements came, the first
convert was baptized in 1859, and steady progress has
ever since been made. In 1870 William Taylor began
work in southern India, and since then the entire super-
vision of Methodist evangelism in all these parts has been
placed in the hands of Bishop Thoburn. The women
of this church are urging forward such lines of labor
as relate to zenanas and hospitals. For three years past
the indications have steadily increased that by the
^housand and ten thousand from henceforth the Hindus
bi northern India are to flock to the gates of the king-
dom. In 1862 the number of church members was but
96, ten years later it had increased to 758, ten years
later still to 3,138, and in 1892 to 15,938, and includ-
ing probationers to 43,933.

Of the German societies, Basle was the first to des-
patch missionaries to aid in the conquest of southern
Asia, and sent them forth the year after the unwilling
Company was compelled to tolerate their presence, that
is, in 1834. The district chosen lies far to the south
upon the Malabar Coast. A force of 129 Europeans is
maintained, with 113 native pastors, evangelists and
catechists. The communicants number 5,993 and the
native Christians 11,365. In the numerous schools are
found 6,453 pupils. Gossner's Society followed in
1845, choosing Chota Nagpore as a field, and the de-
graded Khols as the objects of self-denying endeavor.
For years no fruit appeared, the Mutiny brought much
disaster, while in 1869 came a lamentable schism. But
before this latter calamity befell, the mission had been
visited by a work of grace ''overwhelming, and rarely

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 79

experienced." The converts now number some 30,000.
The Leipsic Society fell heir to the Danish Tranquebar
mission in 1847, and in that vicinity has ever since been
active. Twenty-nine missionaries are found ministering
to about 13,500 communicants, and to 4,817 children in
the schools.

Especial mention must be made of the missions of
certain societies which have begun work in times com-
paratively recent, or whose working force has been but
small. The Evangelical Lutherans (General Synod)
entered India in 1842 occupying Guntur in the Madras
Presidency. Upwards of 4,000 children are taught in
the schools, and nearly 7,000 communicants are gathered
in the churches. In 1855 the United Presbyterians of
the United States appeared in India, and live years later
their ecclesiastical brethren of the same name in Scot-
land followed, while the two together chose the north-
western portion of the great peninsula as a work field,
and have cultivated the same with thoroughness until
this day. The toil of the one has been rewarded with
3,894 church members, a Christian community number-
ing 10,632, and 5,824 pupils in the schools; and the
other with 526 church members and 5,413 pupils. The
American Reformed (Dutch) having co-operated with
the American Board from the beginning, determined in
1858 to engage in independent work, and the Arcot
mission in Madras Presidency was turned over to them.
Nor has this portion of the Lord's heritage suffered in
the least in their hands. The double task of converting
and training has been diligently and wisely attended to,
and with these results : Communicants 1,981, native
Christians 6,504, pupils in the schools 5,517.

I So A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

No Statement of what has been undertaken for the
evangelization of India would be at all complete, which
did not include some mention of medical missions, and
woman's work, in both of which the last two decades
have seen a remarkable enlargement. The female half
of the population is found in a condition especially
deplorable, and utterly inaccessible to all ordinary agen-
cies. As far back as 1835, Miss Wakefield, a missionary
sent out by the Society for Promoting Female Education
in the East, succeeded in entering two or three zenanas
in Calcutta, and other women followed until in 1843 ^"^
was appointed for this specific work. After the Mutiny
came a marked enlargement. Mrs. Mullens also aroused
a deep interest ; various societies were organized to carry
light and joy to Hindu homes, and now twenty-two are
united in the sacred task. In 1890 the number of
foreign and Eurasian women employed was 711, with
3,278 native Christians in co-operation ; 40,518 zenanas
were open with 32,659 pupils; in 1,673 schools, of
which 166 were boarding schools, there were 71,500
pupils, or including those in zenanas, 104,159.

It is to the true glory of the government that it has
undertaken so much upon the physical side of the public
weal, and its abundant good works in this direction
inure to the advancement of Christianity in the land.
There are in all 1,641 public institutions for the relief of
suff'ering and the healing of disease, in which in 1893
were treated 265,000 in-door and 11,987,000 out-door
patients. In 48 hospitals and dispensaries for women,
9 of them being in native states, 412,591 received treat-
ment. There are besides 26 lunatic asylums, and 23
leper hospitals. Vaccination is compulsory, and some

MISSIONS IN INDIA. l8l

5,700,000 a year are shield d from a disease which carries
off about 125,000 annually. In 1885 the Countess
Dufferin formed the Association for Supplying Fe-
male Medical Aid to the Women of India, and so gen-
erous was the response in Great Britain, and elsewhere,
to her appeals that a fund amounting to ^^8 1,000 ($410,-
000,) is now in hand, 103 women with thorough medi-
cal training are at work in its 30 hospitals and 20 dis-
pensaries, while 200 more are under training as nurses
and physicians in India, and others also in England ;
and in 1892 nearly 460,000 women, afflicted with bodily
ills, received counsel and medicine. The number of
missionary physicians is 76, and 28 of them are women.
The first woman to enter this calling was Miss Swain,
who in 1869 was sent out by her sisters of the American
Methodist Episcopal Church, though she had been
before appointed to the same work by the Woman's
Union Missionary Society, and opened a hospital in
Bareilly in the Northwest Provinces. It was not long
after that the nawab of Rampore, a Mohammedan prince,
bestowed for her use the munificent donation of forty-
two acres, together with certain large buildings worth
;^i5,ooo. The rapid development of woman's work,
which is doing so much to hasten the day of redemp-
tion to truth and righteousness, appears in the fact that
while at the first Conference at Allahabad, 1872-3, the
sex was altogether unrepresented, at the second held ten
years later, at Calcutta, there were 181 women, to 249
men among the members. However, though two had
been appointed to prepare papers, it was not thought
proper to have them presented by female lips. But ten
years later still, at Bombay, where only 263 men were in

i82

A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

attendance, and 276 women, the latter were admitted to
full equality in every particular.

These figures which follow will show some of the
results accruing at the close of a century from all the
co-operating influences and instrumentalities and methods
of work. They relate to the facts as these existed at the
close of 1890 and were prepared for the recent confer-
ence which met at Bombay. The tables have been cor-
rected so as to include the Baptist work in Burmah.

Missionary Work in India.

Societies.

C V ">

.5f.S c

1) 0) M (U S

1. Baptist

2. Congregational

3. Church of England

4. Presbyterian

5. Methodist

6. Lutheran

7. Moravian. Friends, and

8. Isolated Missions.

9. Women's Missionary Societies.
.0. Supplement

270
76
203
149
no
125
16

49

Total in India.

375
84

249
64

116
48

957

853
582
870
520
561
365

13

155

>.2

U

285,000
77,466

193.363
34,395
32,^81
62,838

398

150
25,548

4369 I 710,000

c .

I"

u

85,473
13,775
52,377

11,128
15,782
24,207

114

30
11,508

214,394

Woman's Work in India.

<^

Church of England

Presbyterian

Congregational]

Baptist

Methodist

Lutheran

Zenana Bible and Med-
ical Mission

Miscellaneous

Total 711 3278

Female
Agents.

:w

223
112

38
108

"3
2

56
59

515
390

310

616
136

161

162

Boarding-
schools.

Pl.

2599
788
662
705

1738
407

47
356

166 7302 1784

432
152
103
229

555
128

Day-schools.

411 15,129
324 12,814
188 9554

99! 5276
364J 11,687

18 1859

1507

2191
3904

62,414

Zenanas.

11,109
1612

11,782

3244

7893

293

3995
585

40,513

4361
2959
4120
246s
14,85s

3063
812

32,659

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 1 83

It may seem to some that the results of missionary ef-
fort in India are discouragingly and scandalously small
at the end of a hundred years, and after the expenditure
of so much money, and the toil of such a host of de-
voted and heroic men and women. Only 710,000
(or only 2,285,000, if Roman Catholics are included).
But these considerations must be taken into account.
The territory under view is so vast. The Roman Em-
pire was smaller by some 300,000 square miles, and yet
that realm of the Caesars was not conquered until after
three centuries. The Queen's dominions in southern
Asia approach Europe for area, and that continent re-
quired a millennium of most arduous endeavor before
Jieathenism was banished. And even Great Britain was
not evangelized in less than ten generations (600-900 A.
D.) Then the population is great beyond conception,
approximating to 300,000,000, or one-fifth of the human
race, or three times greater than that of Rome when at
her greatest. In addition, we must remember what a
heterogeneous and chaotic mass of races, religions, and
languages are found between the Himalayas and the
Cape. How herculean the task of mastering these
tongues, translating into them the Word of Life, and
creating a Christian literature. An ancient and complex
civilization was in full possession, and was thoroughly
permeated by a religious faith and practice much older
than Christianity. Or rather, if possible, made harder
to uproot by long contact and struggle with Mohammed-
anism, one of the very sturdiest foes the gospel ever met.
Then there are the aboriginal tribes sunk in the lowest
depths of ignorance and superstition, with the pariahs,
whose degradation is scarcely exceeded by that of the

184 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Hottentot, or Patagonian. Probably caste presents as
formidable a barrier to the advent and increase of New
Testament virtues as any social or religious institution
to be found upon earth.

As if these hindrances were not enough, India lies
mainly in the tropics, the heat is almost unendurable by
foreigners, and great loss of life has marked the history
of missions. Here is no mean rival to Africa as a cem-
etery for such as counted not their lives dear, if their
Lord might be glorified by the redemption of souls from
sin. Moreover, the first half of the century was marked
by frequent wars and general commotion, such as the
struggles with Ryder Ali and Tippoo Sultan and the
ferocious Marathis, the two campaigns against the
Sikhs (184 1 -9) and the three against the Burmese, and
the Mutiny. About half of India is yet in the hands of
native princes, either Hindu or Moslem ; until 1841
Christianity was wholly excluded from these, and has been
much opposed and hindered since that date, and even
yet is under the ban in some of them. But worse was
the insane and unaccountable opposition of the East
India Company, which lasted almost to the end of
Carey's life, and its effects for evil were felt for two de-
cades longer. Though the representatives of Christianity
were ''interlopers" subject to imprisonment and trans-
portation, and when their presence was tolerated were
shamefully fettered and muzzled, the abominations of
idolatry were countenanced and patronized as a source
of gain. Suttee was winked at, and infanticide, and
hook-swinging, and Thuggism, but one who received
Christian baptism might be robbed of his property in the
courts, etc. The spectacle of the representatives of a

MISSIONS IN INDIA. 185

Christian nation repudiating and scorning the religion
they professed naturally increased the odium and con-
tempt already cherished towards Christianity. It was
not until after 1858 that these fearful scandals came to
an end. And finally, the entire century just past has
been emphatically a period of pioneering, exploring and
laying of foundations. How best to evangelize the na-
tions was an art long since lost by Christendom, and
costly experiments were necessary before the wisest
methods, and the most potent instrumentalities, could be
fashioned and put into operation. So that it is only for
about a generation that the kingdom of heaven has had
a fair chance to reach the millions of India and work its
miracles of blessing. Happily, now the supreme govern-
ment is conscientiously neutral in matters religious, ex-
cept that while each one may worship as he will, human-
ity, decency, and good order must be regarded. It is
to be hoped that ere long the shame connected with the
legal support given to the traffic in opium and intoxica-
ting liquors may cease, that child marriage may be for-
bidden by law, and the nautch dances be suppressed.

These peculiar phenomena appearing in connection
with the progress of missions in this strange land may
well be noticed. Not all the multitudinous races are
equally susceptible to the regenerating influences which
have been brought to bear. The Aryan and Moslem
portion of the people seem to be farthest from salvation,
while the great majority of the native Christians have
come from the lower castes, the outcasts, and the ab-
original tribes. Wherever found, the Mohammedans are
notoriously hard to reach with the gospel message,
though hundreds have listened, believed, and honored

1 86 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

the truth in their lives. One of this class has recently
published a list containing the names of about a hundred
and twenty converts of distinction, of whom seventeen
are ordained ministers, and from northern and central
India alone. Brahmans who accept Jesus as redeemer
and king are also (ew and far between. And not
strangely either, for these are the priests and literati of
Hinduism, self-interest is involved, and they represent
the scribes and Pharisees of Christ's day. So far back
the question was asked. Have any of the rulers or of the
Pharisees believed on Him ? And it has always been
that, not many wise men after the flesh, not man}'
mighty, not many noble, are called, but the humble and
lowly multitude have been the ones to receive most gladly
the gift of gifts. It is always, and everywhere, from the
lower strata upwards, that the gospel leaven works.
Nevertheless, in no small numbers Brahmans have hum-
bled themselves to obedience and trust, and are adorn-
ing the gospel by godly lives. The aboriginal races
(Dravidian, etc.) like the Tamils, Telugus, Khols, and
the Karens and Shans of Burmah, have supplied a rela-
tively large number of converts. And curiously, it is the
Madras Presidency which has furnished the bulk of the
native Christians to be found upon Indian soil. While
of the total of 2,285,000, in Bengal only 182,000 are
found, and in Bombay but 170,000, in Madras, of which
Tinnevelly and Travancore form a part, and which also
holds the most of the Telugus and Tamils, almost three-
fourths or, 1,584,000, have been persuaded to turn from
the worship of idols to the living God.

CHAPTER XIV.

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR.

This continent constitutes the greatest of all mission
fields. That is, it covers by far the largest area, though
both China and India contain a much larger population.
Besides, no such vast spaces can elsewhere be found
upon the face of the earth, so wholly enshrouded in in-
tellectual and moral darkness so dreadfully dense. For
to the midnight of utter ignorance, and superstition,
and beastly vice, is added the, if possible, darker mid-
night of extremest barbarism and savagery. Negro,
Hottentot, Bushman, have long been synonyms for the
lowest conditions in which humanity is ever found.
And to crown all, it was in this most benighted and
wretched quarter of the globe that the slave trade
wrought its horrors and desolations. And therefore,
though for these and other reasons possessing peculiar
claims upon Christendom for help, Africa supplies the
mission field which is difficult and discouraging beyond
any other.

After Asia, the Dark Continent is much the largest of
the six. The length is not far from 5,000 miles from
north to south, and the width is not much less. The
number of square miles of surface is estimated to be 12,-
000,000, or about one-fourth of the land surface of the
globe. Asia covers some 17,000,000 square miles, and
the two Americas together nearly the same. The United

187

1 88 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

States added to Australia would be only half as large as
Africa alone, while Europe is only a pigmy by compari-
son, is only one-third as large, containing but 4,000,-
000. As the most striking, as well as the most un-
fortunate physical feature, is found the fact that the
interminable coast line is so nearly unbroken, is indented
by so few bays, and hence affords so few harbors. In
this particular the neighbor continent to the north is at
the furthest remove. For while the circumference of the
one measures but 15,000 miles, the other is longer by
4,000 miles, though the area is only one-third as great.
It follows from this that Africa is the most inaccessible
of the earth's great land-spaces. While it is true that
no good roads exist between the borders and the remote
central portions, and the jungles are dense, all travel
must be on foot and all carrying is done on the backs of
men, and though the tsetse fly is deadly to horses and
cattle, and the fever almost as deadly to those of foreign
birth, and cannibal tribes abound ; yet the serious
absence of safe anchorage and of streams navigable from
the ocean far inland, supply the chief reason for the long
neglect under which the perishing millions have lain.
As to general contour the surface has often, and well,
been compared to that of an inverted saucer. Next to
the sea is everywhere a low-lying rim, which at no great
distance back rises to mountain ranges, and these in-
close a boundless plateau. The mean elevation is greater
than that of either Europe or Asia, and in spite of their
Alps and Himalayas. The altitude of South Africa
averages about 2,000 feet, and of the north-central
portions about 4,000. The plateau is loftiest in the
region of the great lakes. Between the two Nyanzas, in

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 189

a distance of less than loo miles, the descent is 2,300
feet, or from 3,800 to 1,500. The highest mountain
summits are found to the east of the lakes, Kilimanjaro
and Kenia rising to 18,000 feet.

Africa has four great river systems which taken
together, comprise a large part of the area of the conti-
nent. The Congo carries by far the greatest volume of
water to the sea, though the Nile is longest, next follow
the Niger and the Zambezi, with the Orange not
so very far behind. Rising either in the great lakes,
or else in the same general region, of the four streams
one flows northward to the Mediterranean, two empty
their floods into the Atlantic, and the other ends in the
Indian Ocean. But these and all lesser rivers, and for
precisely the same reason, are absolutely worthless for
navigation between the outside world and the vast
interior. The bulk of their course is upon the elevated
central plateau, from which they must descend to sea
level, and besides must break through the mountain
barrier which about the entire circumference separates
the interior from the coast plain. And so, for a long
distance during the lower part of their course, rapids
and waterfalls abound. Thus the Nile has its three cat-
aracts, and its Murchison and Ripon Falls farther towards
its source, the Congo has ^50 miles of broken naviga-
tion, the Zambezi has it Victoria Falls, etc., etc. Three
immense areas are found from within which no streams
make their way to the ocean. One is the famous
Sahara, which stretches from the Nile to the Atlantic,
and from the Mediterranean to the Soudan, and covers
something like 4,000,000 square miles, about one-third
of the entire continent, or a space as large as Europe.

190 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Another lies about Lake Tchad, and a third about Lake
Ngami.

The remarkable lake system found in east-central
Africa constitutes one of the leading physical features, a
collection of bodies of fresh water surpassed, or
equalled, nowhere except in our own country, and with
only our Superior greater than the greatest of the num-
ber. Victoria Nyanza has an area of 30,000 square
miles to Huron's 20,000, and Tanganyika has an area of
10,000. One other characteristic feature may be men-
tioned. Stretching ten degrees north of the equator and
ten degrees south, and entirely across the continent, say
1,000 miles by 2,500, is a forest great and terrible.
Proceeding north or south from this, a broad stretch of
open park-like country is entered, and this again shades
off into boundless pastures, both towards the Desert and
the Cape. Next in order lie barren regions, Sahara and
Kalahari, with only the slightest rainfall, and finally,
whether in the Barbary States or in the southern portions,
agricultural lands are found. It will be noted that the
equator crosses Africa at no great distance below the
center, and hence the bulk of the continent is inter-
tropical. The climate is so deadly to the unacclimated
on account of the extreme heat, taken together with the
dense forests, and the exceedingly heavy rainfall.

As to the population, how large it is, nothing what-
ever is certainly known. All statements made concern-
ing this matter are at best but guess work, and the esti-
mates differ by several scores of millions. Thus, it has
been common to set the figure at 200,000,000, and
sometimes as high as 300,000,000, while others would
diminish the sum by half. The latest calculations made

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. I9I

by Wagner and Supan, as competent statisticians as the
world contains, give 164,000,000 as the most probable
number, though Ravenstein, another practised and
painstaking authority, would reduce it to 130,000,000.
According to the Statesman's Year Book, whose judg-
ment for years has been thought to approach the infal-
lible, the population is 168,000,000. Dividing the
whole into sections, we may give the result roughly as
follows: north Africa 20,000,000, the Sahara region
3,000,000, north-tropical, or Soudan, 100,000,000,
south-tropical 35,000,000, and South Africa 5,000,000.
It will be profitable to take note of some of the prin-
cipal divisions existing among the population as to race.
Accordingly to the common apprehension all native-born
dwellers in Africa are Negroes, than which nothing can
be further from the fact. At the north are found mil-
lions of Moors, Berbers, Arabs and Turks, and at the
northeast other millions of Copts, Nubians and Abyssin-
ians; the latter sufficiently black, but by no means
Negroes. The genuine Ethiopian is marked by wooley
hair, a flat nose, thick lips, a receding forehead and
projecting jaw, a flat foot and long heel, and his home
is found only in the Soudan, or north-central Africa, to
the north of the Congo, to the west of the great lakes.
This part of the continent is most thickly inhabited, and
contains nearly half of the population. Further south
dwell the great Bantu race, their habitat extending
from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. Beyond these
lies the country of the Bushmen, the Kaffirs, and the
Hottentots, who differ radically from all the rest. Dr.
R. N. Cust, an excellent authority, gives the number of
African languages as 438, with 153 dialects in addition.

192 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

If the population be divided according to religion,
about 1,000,000 are Jews dwelling largely in the Bar-
bary States. Of Christians there are some 8,000,000,
of whom less than one-third are Roman Catholics,
found for the most part in Algeria and the Portuguese
settlements in Angola and Mozambique ; something over
one-third Protestants, composed mainly of British and
Dutch colonists in South Africa ; and the rest are Abyssin-
ians, and Copts in Egypt. Then nearly one-third of the
inhabitants are believed to be Mohammedans. These
have been steadily increasing and spreading themselves
for nearly twelve centuries. Entering from the north-
east as traders and slave-stealers they have pushed across
the Sahara and up the Nile, across the Red Sea and
down the eastern coast, until Islam is known and hon-
ored as far as the Congo and the great lakes, in Zanzi-
bar, Mozambique, and even in Cape Colony. Probably
40,000,000, and perhaps 60,000,000, of the dwellers in
the Dark Continent are at least nominal followers of the
Prophet of Arabia, and have adopted to a greater or less
extent the ideas and practices of the Koran. The Arab
portion of the Moslems represent the last remnant of the
former host of slave-dealers, and their work takes rank
among the foremost specimens of existing inhumanity.
These pitiless men-stealers make systematic war on re-
gion after region, with wholesale burning, slaughter, and
capture. The surviving victims are chained together in
gangs and started for the coast, across the Great Desert
or towards Arabia. Infants, the sick, and feeble, are
killed without ceremony, and it is alleged that not more
than three or four per cent, is left alive at the dreadful
journey's end. Finally, not far from two-thirds of

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 1 93

Africa's millions live and die in the depths of abject
paganism. What religion they have is but a degrading
superstition. No god higher than a fetish is worshiped;
they offer sacrifices to spirits, and wear charms to ward
off evil, and to secure the attainment of their desires.

A few words are in order concerning the twin curses
under which the Negro, the Bantu and the Hottentot
alike have groaned and died for long centuries, and for
which Christian lands are mainly responsible. It is es-
timated that in the four hundred years during which the
slave trade lasted, not less than 40,000,000 Africans
were seized to be sold into slavery, the woes and tor-
ments included of the " middle passage." The bulk of
these were taken from about four thousand miles of the
western coast. Happily that day of general sin and
shame is past. But another form of ignominy and iniqu-
ity, whose result to Africa is perhaps even greater for
damage and woe, remains and appears to be on the in-
crease. If slavery slew its thousands, rum is leading to
destruction its tens of thousands of poor victims. The
figures rise to a magnitude which is amazing, and ap-
palling. At one port a single missionary, and 50,000
barrels of whiskey, were landed at the same time. All
vessels bound for West and South Africa, coming from
Europe and America, stop at Madeira. And this is the
list of liquors which passed through in one week ! 28,
000 cases of Irish whisky; 30,000 cases of brandy;
30,000 cases of Old Tom; 36,000 barrels of rum;
800,000 demijohns of rum; 24,000 butts of rum; 15,-
000 barrels of absinthe ; and 960,000 cases of gin.
The natives so ignorant and so weak, are helpless in the
presence of this foe. Their evil passions are still further

194 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

inflamed, and they are dragged down to yet deeper
depths of degradation and savagery, while the best that
the handful of missionaries are able to accomplish is in
great danger of being neutralized. In a few states in
South Africa, from which intoxicating liquors are ex-
cluded by the strong arm of law, the progress of de-
graded tribes in all good things is surprising, and many
of the chiefs would gladly keep the rum-seller far from
their borders if possessed of the ability. On one occa-
sion seventy chiefs united in affirming : *' Brandy is a
fearfully bad thing. We should become wild animals
here if it were introduced."

Before taking up the story of the modern attempts to
evangelize this continent, an outline of the course of dis-
covery and exploration will be useful as an introduction.
Though, through Egypt and Carthage, Africa is among
the oldest of lands, in the Bible narrative sometimes al-
most rivaling Asia, yet, taken as a whole, it stands
among the very newest and least known. Only twenty
years ago the Encyclopaedia Brittanica could affirm
with truth : ''As yet the only portions of which we pos-
sess any approach to an accurate topographical knowledge
are, Cape Colony and Natal under British rule in the
south ; the French colony of Algeria ; the Portuguese
possession of Angola ; and Egypt and Tunis, dependent
on Turkey, in the north." It was effectually shut up
against entrance by the desert upon one side, and by the
ocean upon the other three. Ancient navigators did not
dare to venture so far from home upon such pathless wastes.
One of the greatest physical problems for the philoso-
phers of antiquity related to the mysterious Nile, from
whence it came, and the cause of its annual overflow,

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. I95

without which Egypt would be absolutely barren of veg-
etation and uninhabitable, but by whose potent influence
almost never failing it was the garden and granary of the
Grecian and Roman world. The Arabs appear to have
made voyages of discovery at an early date down
the eastern coast, as far at least as the latitude of Mada-
gascar. By the middle of the fifteenth century the Port-
uguese began to creep gradually southward along the west-
ern side, reaching Cape Verd in 1446, Sierra Leone in
1463, the mouth of the Congo in 1484, doubled the Cape
of Good Hope in i486, and in 1497 Vasco da Gama ex-
plored the east coast from Natal to Cape Guardafui. In
1652 the Dutch founded a colony at the extreme southern
extremity of the continent, to which some thousands of
Huguenots were added after their expulsion from France.
After a hundred and fifty years (i 795-1806) Cape Colony
became a British possession. In 1787 Sierra Leone was
settled under the auspices of a British company by Afri-
cans who had gained their freedom in America by the
chances of the Revolutionary war, and constituted the
first attempt to introduce civilization and Christianity to
a region which hitherto had been visited only by slave-
stealers in the pursuit of their nefarious occupation.

To Mungo Park (i 795-1806) belongs the honor of
being the pioneer in modern African exploration. He
made two journeys towards the interior, entering from the
west through Senegambia,and crossing to the upper waters
of the Niger, penetrated as far as Timbuctoo and was killed
by the natives. Hence, practically, all that we know of
this continent has been given to the world within a hun-
dred years, or since Carey founded the first missionary
society and led the way to the world's evangelization.

196 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

And further, the great bulk of the explorations belong to
the last half of the century. It is almost wholly during
the memory of multitudes yet living that, under the
love of adventure, or love of gain, in the interests of sci-
ence, philanthopy, or religion, by the score and hundred,
and from all points of the compass, the daring and venture-
some have been pouring in. It was as late as 1830 that the
Landers took up the task which Park had left unfinished,
and traced the Niger to its mouth. In 185 7, and again in
1865, Du Chaillu pushed hither and thither through the
unknown in the same region. From the south the Dutch
Boers migrated steadily further and further back from the
coast. In 18 1 7 Moffat began to combine exploration
with proclamation of the glad tidings, and entered a field
far to the north of the Orange River. Next followed Liv-
ingstone (1840-73), the greatest name of all in this con-
nection, and one standing for a marvelous career of self-
denial and devotion, of endurance and achievement, con-
secrated completely to the tremendous task of revealing
to the civilized world the horrid secrets of this vast terra
incognita, and based upon his famous dictum that "the
end of geographical discovery is the beginning of mis-
sionary enterprise." In 1849 ^^ crossed the Kalahari
Desert and discovered Lake Ngami. In 1853-7 he ad-
vanced northward to the Zambezi, turned westward to
the Atlantic, and then facing about, made his way east-
ward to the Indian Ocean, descending the Zambezi to its
mouth, and among the rest discovering the famous Vic-
toria Falls. In 1859 he ascended the Shire to its source
in Lake Nyassa, returning later to explore the entire cir-
cumference of the latter. In 1866-73 he penetrated still
further, to Lake Tanganyika and the region lying beyond

MISSIONS IN AFRICA J MADAGASCAR. 1 97

its western shores, in eager search of the head streams of
the Congo. Stanley found him at Ujiji, in 187 1 ; spent
five months in his company drinking in his noble spirit,
later sent him supplies, and two years afterwards the prince
of Africa's benefactors was found dead upon his knees
near Lake Bangweolo.

But years before this, Krapf and Rebmann, German
missionaries in the employ of the English Church Soci-
ety, had entered East Africa from Mombasa and Zanzibar,
were the first of Europeans to set eyes upon Kilimanjaro
and Kenia,and heard reports of the existence of a vast body
of water further towards the interior, known then as Unia-
mesi. In 1847 Burton and Speke penetrated to Tangan-
yika, and pushed thence to Victoria Nyanza, while in i860
Speke and Grant proved this greatest of African lakes to be
the source of the Nile. In 1 8 75 Cameron crossed from Zan -
zibar to Benguella, and the year following Stanley entered
upon his journey of a thousand days lacking one, which
brought him at length to the mouth of the Congo. On
account of this and other distinguished achievements, his
name must stand hard after Livingstone's among those
whose most arduous labors have made possible the com-
ing of the Kingdom in these boundless realms of dark-
ness. And finally, meantime, from the north, yet others
were pressing inward towards the centre. In 1849, the
same year in which Lake Ngami was discovered, Rich-
ardson and Barth set forth across the Sahara for Lake
Tchad, but the former died when in the midst of his un-
dertaking, and the latter continued his journeys through
the Soudan for seven years. In 1864-7 Rolhfs was in
the same region, entering from Tripoli, and making his
exit to the southwest, reaching the ocean at the Bight of

198 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Benin. Only a few names from a long list have been
given, and in order that, in some measure at least, might
be presented the remarkable phenomenon of African ex-
ploration upon which this generation has been permitted
to gaze. The changes wrought, the astounding additions
made to human knowledge are not unworthy to be com-
pared with those resulting from the ventures of Columbus
and Magellan. The task accomplished was vastly greater.
What appalling difficulties and perils have been faced and
overcome, what sufferings have been endured, and how
many have laid down their lives. Only about forty years
ago Krapf put on paper this suggestion, which, no doubt,
to many of his contemporaries wore the look of a wild
dream, but which to us has been changed into real mat-
ter of fact ; and yet, in many respects, what an ancient
look it wears. In 1850, giving a view of the great results
to which his discoveries might lead, he wrote : " When
once the time has fully come that the Hamitic race shall
be made acquainted with the gospel, and be received into
the family of God's children upon earth, the high roads
of Africa will take every observer by surprise. It will
then be manifested that the facilities of communication
on the African continent are not inferior to those of
Europe, Asia and America. God's providence has cer-
tainly paved the way for the speedy accomplishment of
his sublime designs. The Niger will carry the messen-
gers of peace to the various states of Nigritia, while the
Tshadda, together with the Congo, will convey them to
the western center of Africa, towards the northern tribes
of Uniamesi . The different branches of the Nile will lead
the missionaries towards the same center from the north
and northeast, while the Jub and Dana will bring them

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 1 99

in frcm East Africa, and the Kilimani [Zambezi] will
usher them in from the south. The sources of these great
rivers are not so distant from each other as our present
geographical knowledge would lead us to believe. Shall
we propose, therefore, and undertake the formation of a
mission chain, linking together the eastern and western
coasts of Africa ? or shall we follow up the water courses
of the continent, by establishing missions at the sources
and estuaries of those great rivers ? The Tshadda, the
Congo, the Nile and the Kilimani rivers take their rise
either from the great lake in Uniamesi, or very near it.
And if the communication with Central Africa shall be
found so simple and so easy, why should we question the
speedy spread of Christianity and Christian civilization
in Africa ? " This same intrepid evangelist-explorer pro-
ceeded to propose to the Gaboon mission the formation of
a continental mission-line to connect with his in the
neighborhood of Zanzibar. Commenting upon this prop-
osition some four years later, a missionary authority sug-
gests : " The place of meeting would be upon some one
of the central mountains which divide the great basins of
the Nile, the Zaire and the small rivers running into the
Indian Ocean. They may be from eight hundred to a
thousand miles from either coast, and Krapf and Reb-
mann have explored some three or four hundred miles of
the eastern portion. Providence is opening wide the
door."

Among recent events of exceeding great importance in
relation to the redemption of Africa must be named the
astounding parceling out, or partition, of the bulk of the
continent among the various powers of Europe, a whole-
sale appropriation of territory entirely without an equal

zoo A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

in history. The whole procedure is high-handed in the
extreme, and affords ample justification for the severe
though witty affirmation of Dr. Cust that, whereas, '' in
former years Europeans used to steal Africans from Africa,
now they are trying to steal Africa from the Africans."
x'Vnd yet, at many points, it cannot but result in benefits
unspeakable to the natives. The beginning of the scheme
may be said to date from the setting up of the Congo
Free State by the imposing Berlin Conference in 1884,
when fourteen governments, also four hundred and fifty
African ** kings" not refusing assent to the same, fixed
certain boundaries, rules and regulations, and placed
King Leopold II. of Belgium in the seat of supreme
power. At divers conventions held since, various
" claims " to territory have been considered, allowed, or
rejected, with this as the general outcome at the present
stage of the business. The South African Republic and
the Orange Free State had been in being for some years.

Area.

Population.

Great Britain,

2,500,000

40,000,000

France,

2,500,000

10,000,000

Congo Free State,

900,000

17,000,000

Germany,

900,000

5,000,000

Portugal,

750,000

4,500,000

Italy,

320,000

5,500,000

Spain,

250,000

150,000

Total, Africa,

12,000,000

165,000,000

Left in native hands,

2,500,000

85,000,000

One other class of invaluable aids to the evangeliza-
tion of Africa remains to be mentioned. After the ex-
plorers had completed their indispensable work, by ban-
ishing the mystery and uncovering the contents hidden
from the beginning of time, and after the famous par-
tition had made certain the suppression of the slave trade,

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 20I

and the worst forms of savagery, as well as civil and
social order and security to life and property, a further
step forward became a necessity. As we have seen, one
of the most serious obstacles to the entrance of civiliza-
tion and Christianity had been found in the unusual
paucity of good harbors upon the fifteen thousand miles
of coast, and the even more fatal lack of rivers naviga-
ble from the sea into the remote interior. These phys-
ical barriers alone were next to prohibitory. The task
of conquering for the kingdom was well-nigh too great
to be undertaken. By some effectual method the way
of the Lord must be prepared, and in the desert a high-
way for our God be made straight, and that so the feet
of the messengers of glad tidings might enter, and trav-
erse these boundless realms of darkness. And by a
strange providence, in the very nick of time, what was
required had been prepared by the science and mechan-
ical skill of the nineteenth century. All unconsciously
to themselves. Watt, and Stevenson, and Morse, were
missionaries. As a result of what the Spirit of God
wrought out through their intellects, already upon the
great African lakes, Nyassa, Tanganyika, and Nyanza,
several steam vessels are found, and continually moving
from shore to shore and from island to island, so that
these inland seas are priceless helps to travel, and trans-
portation of goods. Upon the Congo, with its numer-
ous tributaries affording abundance of navigable water ex-
tending to the very heart of the continent, the Free
State maintains nineteen steamers, seven below the
rapids and twelve above, while others are made use of
by various missions. The Niger too, and the Zambezi,
and the Shire, are traversed, in the same fashion, for the
furtherance of the Gospel. And ere long the terrible

202 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

endurance, and strain, and peril of months, will be ex-
changed for a journey unattended with any special diffi-
culty, while with exposure avoided, and the comforts of
civilized life secured, the assaults of the deadly fever
may much better be resisted. But even more. The lo-
comotive is the matchless vanquisher of time, and space,
and physical barriers, and long since began to crowd its
way irresistibly from various points upon the seaboard
towards the centre. The French are steadily extending
the rails through Algeria, in the direction of Lake
Tchad and their possessions upon the Gulf of Guinea.
The long stretch of rapids separating the lower from the
upper Congo will soon be conquered by the iron horse.
Another railroad is slowly advancing from Benguela
towards Bihe, and the head waters of the Zambezi, while
South Africa rejoices in the possession of several thou-
sand miles of track. Still another road will presently be
completed between Beira upon the Indian Ocean and
the gold fields of Mashonaland, while surveys have been
made for one which shall connect Uganda with the east
coast. And finally, largely through the superb states-
manship and enterprise of Sir Cecil Rhodes, a trans-con-
tinental telegraph line is under construction, to extend
from Table Mountain past the great lakes to the mouth
of the Nile. And these examples are but specimens;
they represent only the insignificant beginning of mar-
velous good things to come for the redemption of Africa.
The stupendous task of redeeming Africa by the proc-
lamation of the Gospel began under most hopeful au-
spices as far back as the day of Pentecost, when certain
from Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene were
present in Jerusalem to share in the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Another African, the eunuch of Ethiopia (per-

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 203

haps Nubia and perhaps Abyssinia), was introduced into
the kingdom of heaven not long after by Philip. And,
a little later still, we hear of Apollos of Alexandria, so
fervid and eloquent. Though it is not known exactly in
what way, or by whom, at an early period the entire
southern coast of the Mediterranean was dotted with
Christian churches, while Alexandria and Carthage be-
came leading centers for the new faith, with such famous
names as Clement, and Origen, Cyril, Athanasius, Au-
gustine and many more, as theologians and preachers.
Abyssinia was Christianized, after a fashion, about the
middle of the fourth century, and ever since the church
has maintained its existence in that country, that is, it
has had a name to live. But the faith and practice of
the African saints were never very pure, and at their
best contained large admixtures of paganism. In par-
ticular, the Egyptian church went far astray in the paths
of false doctrine. As a result, as everywhere else in
the Orient, in the fall of the Roman Empire, and later
after the campaigns of Islam for world-wide dominion,
the remarkable conquests of the truth were well-nigh ut-
terly lost. The Copts however of the Nile valley,
though suffering terrible persecutions, and losing multi-
tudes by apostasy to Mohammedanism, maintained their
organization, and still occupy their ancient seats. For
almost twelve hundred years no Christian voice was
lifted to call this continent to repentance.

As to modern missionary work in Africa, the story is
one full of deepest interest, with chapters overflowing
with passages most pathetic and even tragic. It is a
long and sad, but thrilling narrative of heroic undertak-
ing, attended with a world of suffering, sickness, death,
and apparent failure. The steps and stages of the di-

204 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

vine task were in outline something as follows. It will
be convenient to make five divisions of the theme, and
to speak of evangelizing efforts begun and carried for-
ward in the following order : In the southern portions of
the continent, upon the west coast, in the Congo valley,
in the region lying about the great lakes, and lastly on
the northern border.

South Africa.

This portion of Africa was naturally entered first by
the heralds of the cross, because here first European col-
onies had been established. And for various reasons
missions have been most numerous and successful to the
south of the line adjoining Walfish Bay with Delagoa
Bay. The latitude is that of the south temperate zone,
and hence the climate is healthy and invigorating. Be-
sides, for nearly two centuries and a half, civilized gov-
ernment and society have been steadily extending from
the coast far into the interior. The demoralization of
the slave trade has happily been absent, though the
Dutch scrupled not to reduce the Hottentots to servi-
tude. Many thousands of European inhabitants are
now scattered over a wide area, with liberal additions
of Hindus, Chinese and Malays, attracted by the rich
mines and the fine agricultural resources. To me€t the
civil needs of this population two British colonial gov-
ernments have been set up, Cape Colony and Natal ; two
areas are under native Dutch rule, the Orange Free State
and the South African Republic ; and there is the roomy
domain of the British South Africa Company. Or, if we
include the east coast as far north as the lower Zambezi,
and the west coast up to the mouth of the Congo, we
must add the Portuguese provinces of Lorenzo-Marques

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 205

and Angola, and German Southwest Africa. Concern-
ing this entire region Dr. Cust is of the opinion that
there is no other mission field like it, with so li*ttle to
fear from climate or people, and he declares that none
except the first man to enter it (the Moravian, Schmidt)
can lay any claim to heroism, and his antagonists were
not pagan Bantus or Hottentots, but Dutch Christians.
The Moravians were the pioneers in bringing the
blessed good news, Africa ranking among the most at-
tractive of areas for these queer souls, whose character-
istic principle it has been from the first to prefer toil in
the midst of environments most forbidding, discourag-
ing, and desolate. And their earliest mission had been
located among the degraded slaves of the West Indies.
It was nearly a century after Cape Colony was founded,
and some twenty-five years before Carey was born, that
George Schmidt was dispatched from Herrnhut to make
Christ known to the benighted. For years already he
had been a great sufferer for the Gospel's sake, having
lain for six years in a Bohemian prison, and a portion of
the time in chains so heavy that he was crippled for life.
Arriving at Cape Town in 1737, he made his errand
known, but was met with amazement and incredulity,
and afterwards with derision and scorn. That is, not at
all by the poor heathen, but by the Dutch, people and
preachers together. And because, forsooth, he had de-
termined to cast in his lot with the Hottentots, whom
the stanch Calvinists held in measureless contempt, and
had enslaved. It was a generation or two later, and by
another missionary, that this notice was seen over a
church door, *' Dogs and Hottentots not admitted."
Presently he made his way to Bavian's Kloof, about sixty
miles to the east. Being advanced in years, and unable

206 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

to learn their language, Schmidt essayed to impart in-
struction in the Dutch tongue. Such love and devotion
were not lost on the natives, and in due season a few
were baptized who seemed evidently to have turned from
their sins to God, but with the greatest offence to the
** Reformed " in those parts. The scandal was two-fold.
Brutish creatures, whom they had reduced to bondage,
had been received into the church, and by one who be-
ing a Moravian heretic had no authority to administer
the ordinances. After seven years of most faithful and
self-denying toil, and when a company of nearly fifty
converts had been gathered, the civil authorities gave
command to cease from such unlawful business. Return-
ing to Holland to plead in behalf of his beloved Hotten-
tots, permission was refused to enter the Colony again.
The feeble flock waited long and anxiously for his re-
turn, and little by little were scattered for lack of a shep-
herd. It was fifty years later before the mission was re-
newed, and when in 1792, the memorable date of
Carey's beginning, three Moravians revisited Bavian's
Kloof, only one person was found, an aged woman, who
remembered Schmidt. From this time to the present
the work has been maintained, and one new station after
another has been occupied. In particular Gnadenthal
among the Kafflrs is a noted spot. And among the
many other Christlike deeds in that region must be
named the opening of an asylum for lepers at Hemel en
Aarde. Such measures of success have been vouchsafed
that the work is divided into the Western and Eastern
Province, and includes 26 stations and out-stations, with
a force of 33 men and the same number of women, to-
gether with a large company of native assistants. The
churches contain 3,598 members, while about 14,000 are

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 207

reckoned as adherents. In the schools are found 2,813
pupils.

The next missionary enterprise in behalf of Africa
was begun in 1799 ^7 ^^^ London Society, and with the
distinguished Dr. Vanderkemp as leader. A graduate
of the University of Leyden, for sixteen years he was an
officer in the army of the Netherlands, and withal in
those days an out and out infidel. Later a course of
study was pursued in Edinburgh, followed by years of
practice as a physician. Losing his wife and only child
by a shocking accident, of a sudden, and with all the
fervor and whole-souled determination of Paul, Jesus was
accepted as Lord, though past fifty he offered himself as
bearer of glad tidings to the lowest of the low that wear
the human form, and by choice sailed for the Cape in a
convict ship bound for New South Wales with some hun-
dreds of desperate characters on board. The scene of
his toil was mainly at Graaf Reinet and in the vicinity
of Algoa Bay. It was a time of general disturbance,
since Dutch dominion was about to end, and British
sway was to follow. Much trouble was suffered from the
opposition of the civil rulers, and more from the preju-
dice and hatred of the Boers. But he gave himself with-
out stint, and with tireless energy, to the betterment of
the Hottentots, and with several associates to co-operate,
was able to win to a remarkable degree their confidence
and affection, as well as to gather some hundreds of con-
verts, whom he trained not only to piety and godliness,
but also in the useful arts of industry. After his death
in 181 1 the work was carried on for a season, but pres-
ently on account of various changes of population, etc.,
was relinquished. In 18 18 the same society sent out
Robert Moffat, one of the chief of civilizers and Chris-

2o8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

tianizers in Africa, to begin a term of more than fifty
years of service, and with Kuruman in Bechuanaland as
the theatre for his activity, as well as with Africaner,
once a murderer, robber and outlaw, on whose head a
price was set, as the most famous trophy of divine grace.
In 1840 followed Livingstone to the same mission, to the
north of the Orange River, and some 700 miles from
Cape Town, though ere long pressing forward further
into the interior, and at length entering on his magnifi-
cent career as explorer. Not especially skilled or suc-
cessful as an evangelizer in a direct and personal way,
he yet wrought wonders in opening the path for others.
His was the rare genius of the statesman-missionary.
His view was prophetic. His life-scheme embraced
nothing less than the entire continent. He would un-
cover to the gaze of the world the appalling facts in the
case, and so stir men's convictions as to raise an irresis-
tible crusade, against slavery first, but also against the
universal paganism and barbarism. And all this he
achieved. Other missions have been since founded in
Cape Colony, in Kaffirland, and Matabeleland, so that
there are now four in all, manned with 16 missionaries
and their wives, with scores of trained natives to assist,
while the pupils in the schools number about 2,000, the
church members some 3,000 and the native Christians
8,000.

The English Wesleyans were the next to enter South
Africa, despatching their first representative in 1814, and
appointing Barnabas Shaw the year following. The Wes-
leyan doctrine was in bad repute at the Cape, and he
was instructed by those in high civil station that his
presence was not needed, or desired, thereabouts.
Thereupon he set forth northward to find room for his

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 209

proclamation beyond the pale of civilization. And it
was when on this first journey, and after traveling three
hundred miles, that he met a Hottentot chief who had
already advanced two hundred miles in search of white
men to teach his people. Then together the man of God
and the heathen seeker after truth entered Namaqualand
where the Gospel call was long sounded out. In addi-
tion to his limitless courage and fervor, Mr. Shaw was
possessed of unwonted skill to instruct the poor creatures
about him to do many useful things. In particular, a
plow which he fashioned with his own hands was the
cause of the greatest wonder, and on one occasion after
watching it in operation, an aged polygamist exclaimed
with fine enthusiasm, "Why, it will do in a day the
work of ten wives ! ' ' The Wesleyan work in the south-
ern portion of the continent is found in the Transvaal
and Swaziland, and contains 23 missionaries and assist-
ants and 92 native ministers, 222 native local preachers,
64 chapels and 115 other preaching places, 4,000 church
members and 32,000 attendants upon public worship.

The Paris Society {Societe des Missions Evaiigeliqiie)
entered South Africa in 1829. Receiving no welcome
from the Boers of Cape Colony, the missionaries, like so
many others, crossed the Orange River to find a field
containing no foes to resist except from among the
heathen, and at first fixed themselves at no great distance
from Kuruman and Moffat. But many vicissitudes were
in store, one station after another was abandoned until
finally they found rest and prosperity in Basutoland, a
small country hemmed in by Cape Colony, Transvaal
and Natal. A chief of this tribe, after making the pur-
chase of a gun, was told by the merchant that there was
something better to buy, the Gospel to wit, which brings

2IO A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

not death but life, and was informed where this doctrine
could be found. As a result, he sent a message to the
French missionaries, who received it as from God. Prog-
ress was slow for a long period, but patient continuance
in well doing finally brought reward in rich ingathering.
The last ten years have seen the number of native Chris-
tians doubled, and the number of pupils quadrupled, so
that now of the former there are 8,969, and of the
latter 15,460. The work is carried on by 27 European
toilers, 3 native pastors and 81 native evangelists.

Three German societies share in the burden of pro-
claiming Christ in this quarter of the globe, the Rhenish
beginning work in 1830, the Berlin following four years
later, and the Herman nsburg in 1858, from the call of
a Bechuana chief and a letter from the Dutch authori-
ties. The general German method is to secure large
tracts of land, gather colonies from home, or from among
the natives, and to carry on a large number of useful occu-
pations, and thus, so far as possible, to make the mission
self-supporting. How wisely and zealously toil has been
bestowed appears in the fact that the combined force of
172 missionaries have gathered upwards of 10,000
pupils into the schools, 30,207 into the churches, and
almost 60,000 have put themselves under Christian in-
struction. The Berlin Society has organized six synods
whose names indicate how wide-spread is the work.
Transvaal North and South, Natal, Kaffraria, Orange
Free State, and Cape Colony. In addition to these,
two Swedish societies, and one Norwegian, are repre-
sented in South Africa.

In 1834 the American Board laid the foundations for a
mission among the Zulus, which has passed through its
full share of vicissitudes, from war and various outbursts

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 211

of superstition and savagery, so that more than once it
appeared to be on the verge of destruction, but the sup-
ply of men and women of saintly and heroic mould
never failing, such conquests have been made that the
31 American laborers occupy 28 stations and out-sta-
tions, with a total of 204 natives to assist, the schools have
2,323 pupils, and in the 18 churches are 1,664 communi-
cants, while the adherents number 7,283. Some years
since the attempt was made to establish an East African
mission far northward towards the Zambezi, but thus far
this work has not advanced beyond the tentative and ex-
perimental stage. But — to go quite beyond the limits
of South Africa proper — in 1884 the West African Mis-
sion was established upon the highlands some 200 miles
back from the Atlantic coast, and with Bihe and Bail-
undu as central stations. The outlook is encouraging.

Two Scotch missions remain to be mentioned. And
first, the one in charge of the Free Church, which dates
from 182 1, and was organized by the Glasgow Society,
but in 1843 was transferred when it had already reached
a flourishing condition. The Kaffirs are the special ob-
jects of prayer and labor, and Lovedale constitutes the
most characteristic and famous feature. This institu-
tion, which so well combines the evangelizing and edu-
cational elements, is located some seven hundred miles
to the northeast of Cape Town, was opened in 1841, is
for the benefit of both sexes, and the courses include
general education, industrial training, and preparatory
study for teaching and the ministry. A large farm is
owned and cultivated, twenty-two buildings are in use
for dormitories, dwellings, etc., whose total cost was
;^3o,ooo, and the annual expenditure reaches ;£'6,ooo,
of which one-third is met from fees, one -third from

212 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

government grants, and the rest from donations. About
800 pupils are in attendance, of whom not a few come
from long distances. The mission field is divided by
the Great Kei River into two parts, and taken altogether
contains 15 ordained men and a total working force of
284, the 12 churches have a membership of 5,057, and
the 85 schools of all grades have 6, 196 pupils. A second
school, fashioned after Lovedale, has been started at
Blythewood in the northern portion of the mission. And
finally, the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland
also received in 1847 a well developed mission from the
Glasgow Society, and ever since has been faithful in
caring for the charge. Twelve ordained missionaries
are in the work at present with 98 native helpers, while
the harvest gathered is represented by 2,400 scholars and
3,356 communicants.

A complete list of evangelizing agencies in operation
for the redemption of South Africa would include
several additional societies which have entered the field
in recent- years, or whose methods of work are so pecu-
liar as not to be easy to compare with the rest. As an
example of the latter class, the Propagation Society (S.
P. G.) has a large force of workers, but is engaged
mainly in behalf of European colonists. Some idea
may be gathered of what the various churches of Chris-
tendom are doing for the kingdom of heaven in the
portion of the Dark Continent under view by scanning
these brief summaries of facts already given in frag-
mentary form. The principal societies at work number
12, and they employ 374 missionaries, and 1,724 native
helpers. In their schools are found 37,354 pupils, and in
their churches 60,858 members. The number of native
Christians is 149,700. In addition, should be included

3VIISSI0NS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 213

the Wesleyan South African Conference, now independ-
ent of the society through which it came into being,
with upwards of 33,000 native members. After a cen-
tury of British rule and missionary toil, Cape Colony is
clearly to be regarded as both civilized, and Christian.
For according to the recent census, in a population of
1,500,000, of whom 350,000 are white, are to be found
206,777 Dutch Reformed ; 110,240 Wesleyans ; 79,126
Church of England; 39,829 Independents; 23,786
Presbyterians; 14,012 Moravians; 13,159 Rhenish
Missions ; and 14,012 Roman Catholics. The total num-
ber of persons, therefore, with church affiliations of
some sort,in this fragment of the British Empire, is
527,689.

West Africa.

This is a term commonly employed to designate some
four thousand miles of the Atlantic Coast, lying be-
tween Senegambia on the North, and Angola on the
South, and including various subdivisions like Sierra
Leone Coast, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Slave Coast,
etc. Except upon the Niger, the width of the territory
under view is nowhere more than from two hundred to
three hundred and fifty miles. This phrase is a
synonym for sin, sorrow and tragedy. For long cen-
turies this region was the woful scene of the slave trade,
which is perhaps the most amazing and shocking ex-
ample in history of man's inhumanity to man. It is
estimated that within a period of four hundred years not
less than 40,000,000 of blacks, with the accompaniment
of wholesale fire and slaughter, were here seized to be
transported over sea and sold into bondage, though
probably the greater number perished during the hor-

214 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

rors of the '* middle passage." And, as if this were not
calamity arid catastrophe sufficient, the climate is deadly
to those of foreign birth almost beyond that of any other
portion of the earth's surface. So superabundant is the
moisture, and so intense is the tropical heat, the
African fever has slain its tens of thousands, "the
white man's graveyard " is the gruesome but fitting
epithet applied, and the cost of efforts to evangelize has
been exceeding great.

The first missions were singularly disastrous. The
Moravians were the pioneer bearers of good news, send-
ing two men as early as 1737 to the Guinea Coast.
But death snatched away one after another, until
baffled at every point it was deemed best to suspend the
work. Within thirty years two more attempts were
made, with the same result, after nine had laid down
their lives. In 1795 the English Baptist Society entered
Sierra Leone, but the indiscretion of one missionary,
and the ill health of the other, proved fatal to the under-
taking. The next year the London, Glasgow, and
Edinburgh societies united to open work among the
Foulahs, each supplying two representatives, and this
effort also came to nothing, through the combined
agency of dissension and disease. No permanent work
was set on foot until the Church Missionary Society ap-
peared in 1804, and even now long waiting and heavy
endurance of discouragement and disaster were de-
manded. The tide of anti -slavery conviction was then
rapidly rising in England under the arguments and
appeals of Clarkson and VVilberforce, and in 1807 vic-
tory came in the shape of statutes prohibiting the traffic
in slaves. Sierra Leone had been purchased in 1787 by
an English company, as an asylum for a number of

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 215

bondmen who had been liberated by the British troops
during the progress of the American Revolution, and
here they had been set down and left in a condition in
every particular most appalling. And to this mass
reeking with nameless vices were added from time to
time other thousands rescued from slave ships, until
two hundred African nations and tongues were united to
constitute a combination of babel and hell. For years
it seemed as though nothing could be accomplished, but
at length a wonderful transformation began. But, ah,
the loss of life. In twelve years twenty-six had entered
the work, of whom fifteen had died. In eight months
of 1823 fourteen were cut off from the mission, eleven
being either missionaries of their wives, while by 1826,
out of seventy-nine, only fourteen remained to carry on
the arduous campaign. In 1827 Fourah Bay college
was founded, and with the name of Samuel Crowther
standing first upon the roll. Since then upwards of
eighty Africans have here been trained for the ministry,
some of them for stations of special honor and useful-
ness. The diocese of Sierra Leone has existed since
1852, and since 1862 the native church has been '' self-
governing, self-supporting and self-extending." In
1843 the Yoruba mission was opened far down the coast
towards the mouth of the Niger, with Crowther to lead,
and in 1857 a third one some distance up that stream.
In 1864 Crowther, the African and ex-slave, was con-
secrated in Canterbury Cathedral first Bishop of the
Niger. After three generations of steadfast endurance
and resolute struggle, 20,957 native Christians are
found to represent the results achieved for the kingdom
of heaven, 8,139 communicants, and 7,677 pupils in the
schools. To these ministers a missionary force of 12

2l6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

ordained Europeans and 32 ordained natives, and 304
other native helpers.

As early as 1769 Dr. Coke devised a scheme for
carrying the Gospel to West Africa which proved a
failure; but in 181 1 the Wesleyans entered Sierra
I.eone to remain and do valiant and most efficient
service in supplanting grossest barbarism with Christian
civilization. Of course the early missionaries were
compelled to face the same sore trials to which their
brethren of the Church of England were exposed. At
the end of forty years, of one hundred and twenty-three
who had come out, fifty-three had died, and others had
returned broken in health. To save life, a period of
seven years of service was fixed upon, to be followed by
a season of rest and recuperation in a better climate,
afterwards shortened to three years and finally to two.
But before the terrible lesson of wisest precaution had
been thoroughly learned, in the Senegambia mission ad-
joining more than half found graves in pagan soil.
But, for all this mortality, there was no lack of candi-
dates to fill the places of those who fell, and the spirit
of many appears in the words of one who declared :
'' The more I hear of the difficulties and dangers, the
more anxious I am to go ; " and when his mother pro-
tested, " If you go to Africa you will be the death of
me," replied, " And if you do not let me go, you will
be the death of me ! " With such intrepid devotion
the ground was held and other fields were occupied,
until now there are four principal missions, the later
ones being the Gold Coast, Lagos and Dahomey. In all
there are 156 chapels in use, with 451 other preaching
places, 52 missionaries and assistant missionaries, 74
native catechists, and 600 native preachers ; the pupils

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 21 7

in tne schools number 8,788, the church members
15,821, and the attendants upon public services 62,671.

The American Baptists entered Liberia in 182 1, send-
ing two colored men, one of whom, Lott Gary, had been
a slave and had purchased his freedom. That colony
had just been founded for the benefit of emancipated ne-
groes, and numbers of this class had presently been
transported thither. At the end of fifteen years five
churches were in existence, with two hundred and fifty
members, but all were immigrants from the United
States, with not a converted idolater among them. And
of ten white missionaries who had come to share the
burden of evangelistic toil, all but one had died or taken
their departure. Eight more were sent to take their
places, but five had soon succumbed to the climate, or
had fled to escape death. After a long period of such
experiences, in 1856 the mission was suspended, to be in
a sense revived in the Congo valley.

The American Presbyterians (O. S.) sent missionaries
to Liberia in 1832, and no long time elapsed before the
entire six had fallen victims to the fever. After ten
years colored ministers were substituted for white, with
such excellent results that a presbytery was organized in
1848. Six years before this, however, a second mission
was opened to the south of the Bight of Biafra, upon the
Gaboon River, and in 1850 a third upon Corisco Island
at no great distance. The Gaboon work was organized
in 1842 by the American Board, and was carried on un-
til 187 1, when it was turned over to the Presbyterians,
whose two main bodies had been united the year pre-
ceding. Stations have been opened some hundreds of
miles up the Ogowe River. The West African field in-
cludes 15 principal and 21 subordinate stations, manned

2l8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

by 13 ordained missionaries and 5 ordained natives, 24
unordained Americans and 24 unordained natives. The
communicants number 1,611, and 635 pupils are in the
schools.

The Basle Society has suffered as much and as nobly,
and has gained as many trophies, as any other. Begin-
ning with 1827, eight missionaries were sent in three
companies to toil in Liberia, but all either died or were
compelled to leave. The next year four were despatched
to the Guinea coast, and two more followed a little later,
but ere long only one remained, and three times he was
brought to death's door. Removing the station to higher
ground, better health was secured, and since then the
days of extreme darkness have passed away. In 1887,
when the colony was annexed to Germany, the missions
at Cameroons and Victoria, which the English Baptists
had founded, were transferred to the Basle Society. The
experiment was tried with considerable success of em-
ploying colored ministers from the West Indies. The
number of toilers is now 48 men, 38 women, and more
than 100 native helpers of all grades. In the schools are
3,600 pupils, in the churches are 5,996 communicants,
and in the congregations are 13,662 native Christians.

The American Methodists made their advent into Li-
beria in 1832, sending Melville Cox as pioneer. Before
leaving home he said to an intimate friend, ''If I die,
you must come out and write my epitaph." ''I will,
but what shall I write? " '' Write, Let a thousand fall
before Africa be given up." A few months finished his
career, but successors came, and acting upon that noble
motto, have pushed steadily forward to success. Of late
the work of supervision has been placed in the hands of
Bishop Taylor and is carried on by quite a company of

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 219

missionaries, assisted by upwards of 50 native local
preachers. The churches have upwards of 3,400 com-
municants, and the schools nearly 3,000 pupils.

The Mendi Mission, established in 1842, by the
American Missionary Association, had a peculiar origin.
Three years before, the slave ship Amistad had been cap-
tured, and found in possession of the negroes who had
risen up against the captain and crew and overpowered
them. After a long and bitter contest in the courts,
John Quincy Adams being one of their defenders, the
bondmen were declared free, and afterwards by certain
philanthropic persons were sent back to Africa, with
missionaries to give them the Gospel, and a settlement
was made in the Sherbro country, on the coast of Sierra
Leone. Later when the mortality became almost beyond
endurance, the effort was made to gain a supply of Afri-
cans, or men of African descent. Li 1883 the whole
work was turned over to the United Brethren, who had
long been laboring in close proximity. The number of
Christians is about 5,000.

The American Episcopalians entered Liberia in 1834,
sending two teachers and later a clergyman. Through
much tribulation the work has been carried on from that
day to this with proportions constantly increasing. At
the head is now found a colored bishop, and from seven
principal stations the light of truth is diffused through
the surrounding gloom. The clergy number 1 1, of whom
6 are Liberian and 4 are native, whose labors are supple-
mented by 40 lay-readers, catechists, etc. There are
982 communicants, about 3,000 attendants upon the
public services, and upwards of i,ooo pupils in the
schools.

The United Presbyterians of Scotland sent mission-

220 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

aries to Old Calabar, lying between the mouth of the
Niger and that of the Congo, and in 1846, with the de-
sign of manning the mission with Africans. Eight prin-
cipal stations are sustained by 10 ordained men, two of
them being natives, with the aid of 8 other Europeans
and 21 natives. There are 465 church members and
905 in the schools.

In 1847 the North German Society sent four men to
plant a mission upon the Gold Coast, not far from Daho-
man territory, but before a location could be made, only
one was left alive. Others came and the same morality
continued, so that after forty years, out of one hundred
and ten who had volunteered to face deadly peril from
the fever, fifty-six had died, and forty had retired with
constitutions broken, while out of fifty-six children born
in missionary homes only twenty-six survived. At one
time, so past endurance seemed the situation, that the
work was abandoned, though only to be taken up again
in 1853. Keta, then simply a harbor, was chosen as the
location for a settlement, while several stations were
opened in the vicinity in later years. Divers wars
among the surrounding tribes brought disaster. Not un-
til quite recently have any considerable signs of promise
begun to appear. Since the climate is so fatal to whites,
especial pains are now taken to train up natives to take
the burden of toil, of whom some are educated in the
mission and others in Germany. Fourteen Europeans
are found at the present time engaged in evangelistic ef-
fort, with 32 native helpers. In the schools are 350 pu-
pils, in the churches 472 communicants, and the congre-
gations about 1,200 who have put themselves under Chris-
tian instruction.

The American Lutherans (General Synod) in i860

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 221

laid the foundations of a missionary settlement in Li-
beria, securing for their uses a grant of several hundred
acres of land. From the families of recaptured slaves
forty children were selected and bound out by the gov-
ernment to the mission, to be educated and receive man-
ual training. The culture of sugar cane, rice and coffee
is a source of income. The chief hindrance to large
progress is found, not in the climate, or in prevalent
barbarism or heathenism, so much as in the demoraliza-
tion resulting from the vast quantities of rum imported
from Europe and America. The force employed is but
small, consisting of but four persons, with one ordained
and several unordained natives to assist. The pupils
number about 225 and the church members some 170.
In addition to the societies named must be added the
Southern Baptist Convention which has eight represen-
tatives and six native helpers, one hundred and fifty
members in the churches and about the same number in
the schools. Lagos and Abeokuta are among the princi-
pal stations. The United Methodist Free Church is also
represented on the west coast, as well as the colored
Baptists and Methodists of the United States, and the
Methodist Protestant Church. It will be noticed that
while a few diminutive sections have been quite abund-
antly supplied with the Gospel, like Sierra Leone, Li-
beria, and the region lying in the vicinity of the mouths
of the Niger, the bulk of the vast stretch of four thou-
sand miles of coast is even yet practically untouched.
And also that with few exceptions it is only the seaboard
and a narrow strip bordering thereon which have be-
gun to receive the light of life, while the boundless in-
terior remains in the blackness of darkness of ignorance
and sin. In making an estimate of what has been ac-

222^ A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

complished, of course the reduction to writing of some
two score languages and dialects is by no means to be
forgotten, or the translations of the Scriptures, and the
creation of a considerable literature. But, at the very
best, after a century has passed since the first mission-
aries touched the shores with the message of salvation,
the redemption of West Africa is yet to be achieved.
What are these among so many? The figures which
follow will give at least some idea of the spiritual forces
at work, and of the visible rewards of toil. Twelve so-
cieties are performing the bulk of the evangelizing work
with 253 American and European agents and 1,304 native
helpers. In the churches are 35,598 members and in
the schools 23,894 pupils. The number of adherents is
upwards of 130,000.

West Central Africa.

In its present use, this phrase is equivalent to the Con-
go Basin, or the Congo Free State, including thus the
equatorial portion, extending from the Atlantic to the
vicinity of the great African lakes. It is in this exten-
sive region, together with the corresponding one stretch-
ing from its eastern limits to the Indian Ocean, that
within the last two decades a most remarkable develop-
ment of organized efforts for the evangelization of the
Dark Continent has occurred. And whatever has been
undertaken is the result primarily of what Livingstone
endured and achieved, with Stanley and King Leopold
to carry forward towards completion what he so mag-
nificently planned and initiated. As we saw, as far back
as 1850, the fervid and prescient Krapf dreamed of a
day approaching when a chain of missions should be es-
tablished along **the highroads of Central Africa" from

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 223

sea to sea, and this missionary explorer was permitted
to live to see his hope and expectations change to vis-
ible fact. It was in 1866 that Livingstone crossed the
Zambezi to devote the residue of his days to journeys
here and there, searching for the head waters of the un-
known Congo. And it was not until August of 1877,
and after nine hundred and ninety-nine days of inces-
sant hardship and peril, having followed its course for
thousands of miles, that Stanley reached the mouth of
that majestic stream, and the civilized world began to
have knowledge of what treasures, and wonders, and
peoples, the immense interior possessed. Next came five
years of further exploration of the upper waters, under
the direction of the same fertile brain and indomitable
will, and the hewing out of a road past the long stretch
of rapids, and after that, in 1884-5, the sessions of the
famous Berlin Conference, which brought into being the
Congo Free State, forbidding the slave trade, promising
to end domestic slavery at the soonest, and guaranteeing
to all liberty of conscience and religious toleration.
Committed to the care of the philanthropic King of
Belgium, ever since efforts have been unceasing to es-
tablish universal peace and public order, and to encour-
age the entrance and prosperity of every worthy enter-
prise. And thus it was that a territory of 1,000,000
square miles, and a population estimated at some 20,-
000,000, were uncovered to the gaze of Christendom,
and made quite easily accessible to missionary effort.

The story of what has been done to redeem the Congo
Basin from savagery and degrading fetish worship is a
short one of necessity, so few are the years covered
thereby, nor can long columns of impressive statistics be
supplied. Up to the present hour the task has been

224 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

mainly that of choosing and opening stations, learning
the language, and carrying all manner of matters
through the trying preliminary and experimental stage.
It is not at all strange that the important geographical
discoveries just referred to produced a profound impres-
sion upon the churches, that enthusiasm was stirred, and
that not a few were presently found ready and eager to
enter in at the door just opened. Indeed, without wait-
ing for all the preparatory steps to be taken, as early as
1878, the year in which Stanley's " Darkest Africa "
was published, and hence seven years before the Free
State was set up, the Livingstone Inland Missionary
Society had planted a station near the mouth of the
Congo. H. Grattan Guinness and the English Baptist
Missionary Society were active in this movement. By
1884 such energy had been displayed that the one sta-
tion had increased to seven, of which three were upon
the Upper Congo, seventeen laborers were engaged,
while a steam launch below the rapids, and the steamer
*' Henry Reed " above, were in use to facilitate inter-
course and enlargement. In that year the mission was
turned over to the American Baptists, whose work in
Liberia had previously been abandoned. The fatal fever
has carried off its victims, the Arab slave-stealer has not
yet ceased from his destructive raids, and many are the
trials to faith and patience, but men and money have
been liberally supplied, and the return for all the ex-
penditure is given in small part in these figures. The
missionaries are 27 in number with 15 wives, 8 un-
married women and 3 physicians in addition, as well as
21 native preachers and 42 other native helpers ; a total
of 109 laborers, of whom more than half are Africans.
The 14 churches have a membership of 1,212 the bap-

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 225

tisms were 438 in 1893, the scholars in the schools were
1,557, and the adherents may be estimated at about
3,000.

The English Baptists were among the first to enter this
new territory, receiving the impulse in part from an
offer of ^5,000 by Mr. Arthington of Leeds, on condi-
tion that a mission be planted at once. A beginning was
made in 1878 upon the Lower Congo, and in Portuguese
territory. This society has two steamers, and a force of
30 missionaries, distributed above and below the great
rapids, has gathered some 500 pupils into its schools,
and about 100 members into its churches. The losses
by death have been peculiarly afflictive, one entire
family of consecrated men and women, the Combers,
consisting of two brothers, their wives, and a sister,
having laid down their lives.

Of several other undertakings only the names and the
dates of entrance can be given. The Swedish Society
has three stations with about a score of missionaries on
the north bank of the lower river, and for ten years has
been sounding out the glad tidings. Bishop Taylor has
opened several stations which are based on the principle
of self-support. In 1889 the Congo-Balolo mission was
established by the East London Missionary Institute,
taking for its share of the broad field certain southern
or eastern branches above Equatorville. Though the
ravages of the destroyer have been fearful in their ranks,
and little beyond foundation work has been accom-
plished, such consecration and readiness to toil and suffer
as have been abundantly displayed, cannot fail to tell
eventually in the conversion of souls, and the building
up of Christian institutions. In 1888 Arnot's mission
was located in the extreme southeast corner of the Congo

226 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Basin, so far away indeed as to be most easily reached
from Benguela, or even from the east coast.

In all, eight societies have planted stations in the west
central portion of Africa, and though in the first ten
years fifty-five who entered this field were buried within
its soil, the number of survivors is not far from loo,
and the number of converts is about 1,500. From the
coast the word of life has already penetrated at least a
thousand miles towards the center of the continent, and
the work is well taken in hand of reducing to writing
several of the one hundred and sixty languages and
dialects said to exist in this area, and of translating into
it God's wonderful message to men. The infamous and
desolating slave trade seems to be nearing its end,
steamers are steadily multiplying on all parts of the
river and its branches, the railroad in a few years will
be completed to connect the lower with the upper
waters, the sacred task will certainly be carried forward
in spite of all obstacles, and will be properly enlarged,
the divine blessing will not be witheld, and therefore,
only time is needed to make the desert to bud, blossom,
and bear abundant fruit.

East Central Africa.

This portion of the continent includes so much of the
eastern coast as lies between Abyssinia and the mouth of
the Zambezi, the region lying about the great lakes, and
the area intervening. For size it surpasses the portion
last considered, but the population is very much less.
The bulk of missionary work thus far undertaken is con-
fined to the seaboard and the vicinity of the lakes, and be-
cause of the difficulties of travel and transportation else-
where. Though the Portuguese had been for centuries

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 227

in nominal possession, and engaged in trade with the
natives, no perceptible impression had been made upon
the universal barbarism and superstition. The high
honor of pioneering for the Gospel belongs to the Church
Missionary Society, and to Krapf and Rebmann its rep-
resentatives, and the remotest beginnings were made as
far back as 1839 in the extreme northeast. Krapf had
landed at Zeila, on the Gulf of Aden, hoping to be able
to enter Abyssinia, but failing in that project, after sev-
eral extensive tours through Somaliland and Gallaland,
concluded in 1844 to locate upon the Zanzibar coast,
with the especial design of reaching the Gallas from this
direction. Two years later he was joined by Rebmann,
and for nearly ten years these most devoted, and enter-
prising, and fearless, servants of God, gave themselves
without stint to preaching, teaching, and translating the
Scriptures ; with all the rest also pushing back repeatedly
far from the coast, and gathering a mass of most import-
ant geographical knowledge.

Tlie exceedingly fruitful labors of the one continued
until 1855, and of the other until 1875. But Krapf,
though nominally no longer a missionary, yet returned
twice to the scene of his labors, to lead forth companies
of Christian toilers, and to aid with his counsels in lay-
ing foundations. It was in 1861 that the United Metho-
dist Free Church determined to open a mission in East
Africa, and despatched four men with the German apos-
tle as leader. The Galla country was chosen as a field.
Sickness and death have visited the stations, in a savage
raid one missionary and his wife were murdered, and the
forays of the Arab slave dealers have caused much em-
barrassment ; but with no great number of converts gath-
ered as yet, the outlook is full of encouragement. In

228 A HUNDRED YEARS OF RflSSIONS.

1865 a Swedish mission was opened among the Gallas ;
this also with the advice and assistance of Dr. Krapf.
The sacrifices have been great, the exertions have been
enormous, the tangible gains have been relatively slight,
but eleven Europeans and a larger number of natives con-
tinue to crowd on the Lord's work, adding to the usual
forms of evangelistic effort a medical mission and the
teaching of trades.

But it was not until after the death of Livingstone, in
1873, ^^^^^ t^^ grand impulse was given to missions in
East Central Africa ; and it is not too much to affirm
that whatsoever has been undertaken since is, directly or
indirectly, attributable to influences which went forth
from the character and deeds of this gifted and conse-
crated servant of Christ, whose endeavors for the Dark
Continent were so herculean. He had written and spoken
much to the churches of Great Britain to quicken their
consciences and inflame their zeal. The earliest response
was made in the organization of the Universities' Mission
in 1859, and the sending later of a pioneer force, which
finally located in Zanzibar in 1862 to make preparation
for an advance upon the mainland, in the meantime train-
ing a company of released slave children, that they might
form the nucleus of a Christian settlement. Here is the
central seat of the mission. A church has been erected
upon ground once occupied by a slave market, where
thousands of slaves were once sold every year. About
the same time most costly efl'orts were commenced to
open work upon Lake Nyassa, as well as at some eligi-
ble points between the coast and that important body of
water. It was not until 1882, and after various experi-
ments, that a permanent location was finally secured
upon the east shore, though a half-way station had been

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 229

occupied to the north of the Rovuma River six years be-
fore. A steamer now traverses the lake, doing valuable
service for the kingdom. This body of missionaries rep-
resents the high church section of the Church of England,
but is second to none for devotion and readiness to risk
all and suffer all with joy. Celibacy is an essential qual-
ification, while clergymen, teachers, mechanics, etc., are
held in equal honor, and none receives any remuneration
beyond board, clothing, and money sufficient for corre-
spondence. The entire force numbers 194, of whom 85
are Europeans and 109 are Africans, and 23 are women.
The pupils in the schools number 2,106, the communi-
cants 1,166, and the adult adherents 3,551.

The English Church Society, which, as we have seen,
had entered East Africa in 1844, was stirred to new ex-
ertions and substantial enlargement in 1876 by the famous
letter of Stanley relating to Uganda, and the subsequent
special gifts, amounting in all to ^^24,000, and a party
of eight was consecrated to the momentous task of plant-
ing Christianity far inland upon the northwestern coast
of Victoria Nyanza, a region almost inaccessible. Alex-
ander Mackay was among the number. A year after ar-
riving at Zanzibar only one-half of the party were left
alive to reach their destination, and two of them were
soon murdered by the natives. The events which have
since transpired are both inspiring and tragic in the ex-
treme, but for lack of space must be left unmentioned in
detail. Suffice it to say that to Hannington, slain by sav-
age hands, Bishop Tucker has succeeded ; British author-
ity is firmly established in Uganda, insuring for the future
good order and safety to life and property ; a railroad to
the coast is in fair prospect, and several intermediate
mission stations have been occupied. The work of this

230 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

society, including the coast district and the interior, may
be summed up and set forth by these few figures. The
stations number 12, the clergymen 25, laymen 14, and
women 17 ; 8 ordained natives and 87 unordained ;
1,170 in the schools ; 756 communicants; and a body
of nearly 5,000 adherents.

In 1875 the Scottish Free Church sent a missionary
expedition up the Shire in a little steamer provided for
the purpose, which was transported on the backs of men
past the obstructing cataracts, and finally launched
upon the waters of Lake Nyassa. The location for a
mission was fixed about half way up the western shore,
to which others have since been added near the north
end and also towards the interior to the west. Especial
trouble has been experienced from the violence of the
slave-stealers. A total of 135 Christian agents are
employed, of whom the bulk are native teachers, but 6
are ordained, and as many are unordained Europeans.
In the schools 3,900 were enrolled in 1892, and the
churches contained 185 communicants.

Almost at the same time the Established Church of
Scotland was looking towards the same region, so closely
connected with the career of Livingstone, as a field for the
planting of Christian institutions, and in 1874 com-
menced operations which now center in Blantyre,
situated at some distance to the south of Lake Nyassa,
and east of the Shire in the vicinity of Lake Shirwa.
In the earlier period serious trouble befell on account of
the zeal displayed in harboring fugitive slaves, and
because the missionaries hesitated not to execute
"Scotch justice" upon the natives for their criminal
misdeeds, but of late solid progress has been made.

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 23I

Among other things, a beautiful church has been
erected ahnost wholly by native hands.

As yet Tanganyika, the third of the large African
lakes, remained unvisited by messengers of the Gospel.
But in 1877 the London Society began an arduous
attempt to reach and hold its shores for the Master. A
party of six set forth westward from Zanzibar, later
dividing into two parties, of which one reached Ujiji
after some sixteen months of struggle and vexatious
delays, while the other reached Urambo, a point lying
between the lake and the coast, not until 1879. '* The
mission has passed through ten years of almost unpre-
cedented trials, owing to the failure of health, and
deaths, in the mission circle." Troubles are not yet
ended, though it is hoped that the worst has been en-
dured. A steamer is now in use which cost the toil of
six years to construct.

In days yet more recent the Moravians and the
Berlin Society have opened work to the north of
Nyassa, between that and Tanganyika, and the East
African Scottish Mission has been located some two
hundred miles to the northwest of Mombasa, and about
fifty miles to the north of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest
mountain. Kibwezi, which is chosen as the center, lies
upon the caravan route to Uganda, and at an altitude of
three thousand feet above the sea. And finally, to the
south and west of the lake region, upon the upper
Zambezi, among the Barotse, for several years has
labored and suffered M. Coillard of the Paris Mission,
with Arnot's Mission in Garenganze not very remote.

All these undertakings, second to none for difficulties
and dangers attending their progress, and urged on
with resolution and devotion nowhere surpassed, are yet

232 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

in their feeble infancy, and the glad harvest season is m
days to come. And there remaineth yet very much
land to be possessed. The few toilers now in the field
must be increased to a host, and over all this vast area,
one-third the size of the United States less Alaska, must
be heard the sweet story of the cross, and be planted the
various institutions of Christianity. And all this shall
surely come to pass.

North Africa.

There remains to be mentioned a division of the
continent which extends from the Red Sea to the At-
lantic, and from the Mediterranean to the southern
boundary of Abyssinia and the desert of Sahara, or
spreads over about fifty degrees of longitude, and
twenty-five of latitude. According to the best estimates
the population is at least 25,000,000. Almost every-
where Mohammedanism holds the seat of both religious
and political power. The only exceptions are, Algeria
under French sway, Abyssinia where an exceedingly
corrupt form of Christianity wields the scepter, and
among the Copts, an insignificant fraction of the in-
habitants of Egypt. The northern and eastern por-
tions, covered by six states, were the theater of some of
the early and notable triumphs of the Gospel, for cen-
turies were well covered with churches and monasteries,
and the millions of those who professed to honor the
Nazarene were second to none for zeal fiery and even
furious. But with the fall of the Roman Empire came
the irresistible barbarian hordes, the Vandals among the
rest, and a few generations after the terrible Arab in-
vaders bringing with them the Koran and the sword.
Last of all the Turks attained sovereignty, holding at

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 233

Jeast nominal rule even to the Pillars of Hercules.
Through all the early decades of this century the pirates
of the Barbary States were the terror of Christendom, so
destructive were they to commerce, and so eager to
capture the ** infidels" and hold them in slavery until
ransomed. Better days for civilization began to dawn
when in 1830 France began to take vengeance for damage
and insults upon the dey of Algiers, and later when
Mehemet Ali began to introduce reforms into the old time
government of Egypt. These and other political revolu-
tions prepared the way for the re-introduction of Chris-
tian efforts and the rebuilding of Christian institutions.

The work of evangelization began in the Nile valley,
and in the highlands far to the south of the Cataracts,
and in 1819 under the auspices of the English Church
Society. In those primitive days the heart of Christen-
dom went out witli especial warmth of desire towards
the corrupt Oriental churches, and hope was strong that
if a pure Gospel was presented, they might be thor-
oughly reformed as organizations, in both creed and
practice. To hasten this happy consummation, five
missionaries were despatched to Egypt to recover the
Coptic clergy and people from the error of their ways,
but, after long and strenuous endeavor, with only com-
plete failure as the result. However, while there a
manuscript translation of the Scriptures in Amharic, the
vernacular of Abyssinia, was discovered, and this led to
the founding of a mission in that country in 1830.
After eight years of toil, through the malign influence
of two French priests, the entire company was expelled.
Among them was Dr. Krapf, who by this repulse was
led to transfer the scene of his apostolic labors to the
East African region. For an entire decade Bishop

234 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Gobat was closely identified with this enterprise as
leader. It was not until i860 that the Egyptian mission
came to an end. And it was about this time that the
late Miss Whately, daughter of the famed Archbishop of
Dublin, commenced her devoted and most valuable
school work in Cairo, designed especially for Moham-
medan boys and girls, which was also continued, at
great cost to herself, for nearly thirty years.

But 1854 is the true Christian era for modern Egypt,
since it was in that year that the " American Mission "
was founded by the United Presbyterian Church, by the
entrance of two missionaries into Cairo, joined three years
later by Dr. Lansing, who fixed himself in Alexandria,
and three years later still by the Rev. John Hogg. As
soon as possible public services were opened, and schools
both for boys and girls, and tours were made for the sale
of Bibles and other religious books. The Coptic Church
was the special object held in mind, though no direct
notice was taken of it, and the immediate result sought
was the enlightenment of individual men and women,
and the quickening of spiritual life. Persecutions have
been by no means wanting, from both quasi Christians
and Moslems, to try the endurance of missionaries and
converts, and not a few remarkable tokens of favor from
God and man have been vouchsafed. Thus, through
Said Pasha and Ismail Pasha real estate was donated in
the Coptic quarter of Cairo worth some ^40,000. And
a wealthy Hindu prince, Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, son
of the redoubtable Runjeet Singh, monarch of the Pun-
jab, having married one of the girls from the Cairo
mission school, as a token of his grateful interest, sent
an annual gift until the total reached ^90,000, besides
presenting to the mission his boat, the Ibis, for use in

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 235

frequent evangelizing tours up and down the Nile. Among
the happiest phases of the work is to be named the fact
that other Protestant societies have not interfered by
trespass and competition, so that the brethren engaged
could bestow their undivided attention upon the common
foe. With such advantages, and the smile of the Lord
appearing in various seasons of revival, progress in every
sphere of effort has been steady, and quite marked. In
1865 Mr. Hogg and others ascended the river two hun-
dred miles to Assioot, to make that city of 30,000 a
second center, and the year following a further advance
was made of two hundred and fifteen miles by the oc-
cupation of Koos, in the vicinity of Thebes. Finally
in 1887 a station was opened at Assouan (Syene), hard
by the First Cataract and on the border of Nubia. At
the end of about forty years the Gospel is preached at
nearly one hundred and fifty points in the long, narrow
valley of the Nile. A profound impression has been
made upon the Coptic Church, and even upon the Mo-
hammedan population, for from the latter nearly a thou-
sand children are found in the mission schools. It is
not often in the foreign field that the toilers in publish-
ing their statistics can affirm: ** Nearly all the items
have more than doubled in every ten years, and some of
them have doubled in every five years." The figures
for the close of 1893 are as follows : Number of or-
dained missionaries 14, with 9 unmarried women, 17
native ministers, and 31 native licentiates. In the
churches are 4,091 communicants, and in the schools are
7,613 pupils. For all church purposes the people con-
tributed ^10,888, and for all school purposes $13,538.

The work of the North African Mission (English) re-
mains to be mentioned. This society was organized in

236 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

1881, to meet the spiritual needs of the Kabyles of Al-
geria, but its sphere has since been enlarged to include
work among the people of Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, and
more recently the Delta of Egypt. The force in the
field numbers 75, of whom a large proportion are
women. Hospital and dispensary work is made quite
prominent, and also visiting from house to house. The
Moslems are found not altogether unapproachable, but
spiritually so barren is the soil, that the utmost of faith
and devotion are required in order not to be weary in
well-doing, and, not strangely, the results which can be
expressed in a few words, or in figures, are not many as
yet. O for the day to return when the glorious Gospel
of salvation shall possess the entire southern coast of the
Mediterranean !

If all the missionary societies engaged in African evan-
gelization were included — the great and the small, the
general and the special, the regular and the irregular —
they would number nearly one hundred. In Dean
Vahl's '' Statistical Review," which is unapproached
for comprehensiveness, and painstaking research, four-
teen organizations are named whose headquarters are
fixed upon African soil. But nine-tenths of the results
achieved belong to less than fifty societies, and the bulk
to such as have been named in this chapter with a sum-
mary of their doings. So many and so various are the
kinds of toil bestowed, that entire accuracy of statement
is impossible, and the best figures obtainable are only
approximate. But fortunately, error is likely to be on
the side of under-statement. Nearly 1,800 European
and American missionaries are struggling in prayer and
exhausting their strength that the Dark Continent may
be filled with the light of life. Of these more than 700

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 237

are ordained. Over 200 natives are ordained pastors,
and there are at least 5,000 other natives engaged in
teaching or as evangelists, etc. Some 76,000 pupils are
under training in the various mission schools, the
churches have about 140,000 members, and perhaps as
many as 800,000 are in some fair measure under the in-
fluence of the means of grace.

Such for substance is a statement of what Christendom
has accomplished and undertaken for Africa with its
165,000,000. The results are most considerable in the
south where the messengers of salvation soonest began to
make proclamation of the good news, and where various
circumstances are peculiarly favorable. Upon the west
coast along a line of some three thousand miles at vari-
ous points the graves of missionaries are dreadfully nu-
merous, proving how general and ardent has been holy
desire, and how deadly is the climate, while the hun-
dreds of churches and schools, and the thousands of con-
verts are conclusive evidence that these heroic men and
women did not die in vain. Surely, the harvest gathered
is by no means inconsiderable, and some slight return
has been made for the woe immeasurable resulting from
the slave trade. As for the immense basin of the Congo,
its hidden recesses were first entered so recently by civ-
ilized men that thus far only time has been afforded to
break the surface here and there and deposit the good
seed. Only the first shoots are visible, while the full
corn in the ear belongs to the future. In like manner,
and for the same cogent reason, the region of the great
lakes and the coast of East Central Africa see simply the
laying of foundations, and the hewing out of material for
the building of the glorious temple certain to be reared
therein in days to come. Ending our review with the

238 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

northern section, in Egypt alone do we find the toilers
in sufficient numbers, and their plans carried forward so
far towards completion as to discover results which can
be tabulated or expressed m few words. And, alas, even
now, what vast regions have not yet been entered by
Gospel heralds, what millions both of pagans and Mo-
hammedans have never looked upon the face of a loving,
earnest disciple of Jesus ! Who will help to hasten the
day when in the largest and most blessed meaning of the
words. Princes shall come out of Egypt ; Ethiopia shall
soon stretch out her hands unto God !

Madagascar.

This island takes rank among the largest, being sur-
passed in size only by New Guinea and Borneo. Its
length is about 1,000 miles, its breadth about 300, while
the area is reckoned at 230,000 square miles. Africa is
distant only 250 miles at the nearest point, the conti-
nental and the insular mass are often classed together,
the historical connection between them is quite intimate,
and in various particulars a striking physical resemblance
may be traced. Except at the north, where a few bays
break the coast line, almost the entire 2,000 miles of cir-
cumference are surprisingly destitute of harbors. Nor
are there any navigable streams by which the interior is
made easily accessible from the sea. And therefore, like
the Dark Continent, Madagascar is closed against free
communication with the great outlying world. The
outer rim, which varies in width from a few miles to
more than a hundred, is low-lying and level, and has a
climate deadly to all foreigners. A plateau of consider-
able elevation overspreads the central portions of the
island, and from it rise several ranges of quite lofty

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 239

mountains. Between the plain and the plateau at well-
nigh every point is found a stretch of dense forest some
fifty miles across, within which the surface rises by suc-
cessive terraces to the higher table land.

No census has ever been taken, and the estimates of
the population vary from 2,500,000 to twice that num-
ber. The Malagasy are not African in origin and race
as we might suppose, but Malayo-Polynesian instead, and
are believed to have entered by incursions separated by
long intervals of time. Several distinct tribes may be
traced, with the Hovas, Sakalavas, and Betsileos, among
the most important, but all alike speaking substantially
the same language. The islanders dwelling in the in-
terior were not savage when first visited by Europeans,
but had attained to no inconsiderable degree of civiliza-
tion. They were decently clothed though the climate is
tropical, cultivated the soil, were by no means lacking in
mechanical skill, dwelt in settled communities, while the
government, though a pure despotism, would compare
not unfavorably with that of other oriental countries.
Tangena was one of the peculiar civil institutions, or the
ordeal of swallowing poison as a judicial test of guilt.
The dominant religion was scarcely above fetish worship.
There were no temples, or priesthood, or public religious
rites, though medicine men were held in honor, as well
as idol-keepers, and belief in charms, divination, and
witchcraft, was universal. In general the people are said
to be courageous, loyal to their rulers, affectionate, firm
in their friendships, courteous, kind to children, the
aged and the infirm, and hospitable to strangers. Slavery
prevailed extensively, and as sources of supply not only
were captives taken in war, held in bondage and sold for
gain, but multitudes of Africans imported by traders were

240 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

purchased. Wheeled vehicles and beasts of burden are
unknown in the island, and this because of the utter ab-
sence of roads. Narrow footpaths, runners, and the
shoulders of men, furnish the only means of communica-
tion. Even Antananarivo the capital, a city of 100,000,
though some two hundred and fifty miles from the sea,
has no better connection with its port, Tamatave. And
no improvement in this particular is undertaken, in great
part because the existing difficulties of travel are such
as to make it next to impossible for an invading army to
climb through the rugged forest region to the elevated
and populous spaces beyond.

For many centuries intercourse had been quite fre-
quent and intimate between the Malagasy and the Arab
merchants and slave traders, who had made a few set-
tlements upon the northern and western coasts. The
Portuguese were the first of Europeans to visit Madagas-
car, and they undertook at various times, during the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to establish themselves
upon the island, but, time after time, all who thus in-
truded were either massacred or driven out. Later the
Dutch followed and the French, but making themselves
equally obnoxious by their vices and crimes, their at-
tempts came to the same end. The advent of the Eng-
lish was delayed until early in this century, and consti-
tutes a most impressive providence, both with respect
to the strange way in which it was brought about, and
the momentous results to which it led. No mission field
can be named whose story is fuller of incidents more
striking because out of the common order. And the
Gospel message was first carried in the very nick of
time, for an all-important preparation had just been
made. From time immemorial the island had been di-

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 24I

nded among divers tribes, between which desolating
wars were frequent, but now appeared a certain Hova
chieftain of unusual ability for statesmanship, and an
ambition to subdue his neighbors on every side that he
might rise to supreme power. Dying in 1810 he be-
queathed his policy to his son Radama I. This young
ruler was sagacious and full of political enterprise, and
knew enough of European civilization to understand that
he could borrow much that would be greatly to his ad-
vantage. Now it had strangely '' happened " that in
that same year, under the chances attending the Napo-
leonic wars, Mauritius, an island lying some hundreds of
miles to the east, was wrested from France by Great
Britain, and Sir Robert Farquhar was appointed governor,
a man thoroughly imbued with horror and hatred for the
slave trade, of which Madagascar was the chief theater
in that part of the world. Nor was he long in entering
into negotiations with the aspiring Malagasy monarch,
offering to supply him with arms, powder, and other ob-
jects of desire, on condition that Radama, on his part,
would abolish the traffic in human flesh. By 1820 a
treaty was concluded on this basis. In the meantime
Sir Robert had suggested to British Christians the advis-
ability of opening a mission in this needy and promis-
ing field. As far back as 181 1 Vanderkemp, with the
consent of the London Society, had planned to exchange
Cape Colony for this island as the scene of his conse-
crated labors, but had died just as he was about to set
forth. It was not till 1818 that two missionaries with
families landed on the eastern coast, to make proclama-
tion of the unsearchable riches of Christ. And lo, tar-
rying too long in the fever-stricken lowlands, within two
months, out of six persons only one was left alive, and

24^ A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

he was compelled to take his departure. Rev. David
Jones, the survivor, returned two years later, to be fol-
lowed presently by quite a company of preachers, teach-
ers and artisans, ascended to the capital, and was most
graciously received by the king. It soon became appar-
ent that the royal desire was wholly for material benefits.
While without regard or respect for the religion in vogue,
neither did he care aught, either then or at any later
time, for Christianity, and was even afraid of its en-
croachments. So he cautioned the missionaries not to
advance too rapidly with their innovations, forbade bap-
tisms and the religious instruction of the children. As
for education however, they might push it to their heart's
content, while carpenters, blacksmiths, and the like,
could scarcely be found in excess. Of religious liberty
he seems never to have gained the least idea.

Of course the vernacular must be mastered at the
outset, and since the Malagasy forms of speech had never
been reduced to writing, alphabet, grammar and lexi-
con were to be created, as well as translations of the
Scriptures to be made. At an early period schools by
the score had been opened to teach the common branches,
and in 1826 a printing press was set up in Antananarivo,
to the exceeding wonder and delight of Radama. As
opportunity offered the Gospel story was told and the
teachings of the New Testament were imparted, but at
the end of the first decade no baptisms had been allowed,
and no public professions of faith in Jesus had been
made. And now of a sudden, when an impression,
wide-spread, if not deep, had been made, but while the
great work of transformation was still in feeble infancy,
the king died, to be succeeded by one of his twelve
wives, Ranavalona, a passionate, unscrupulous, blood-

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 243

thirsty and brutal creature, who feared and hated the
Europeans and all their ways, while she was full of super-
stition and clung to her idols, with the wizards and sor-
cerers. Wars were almost constant during her long
reign of three and thirty years, in one of which it is said
that 25,000 of the natives were killed, and 50,000 were
captured and sold into slavery. For a while her reac-
tionary policy was not fully inaugurated. For a few
months she even allowed public assemblies for Christian
worship and baptisms, but then ordered them to cease.
Later a great gathering of the people was called, accu-
sations were brought against all Christians, and every one
infected with the foreign faith was commanded to come
forward within a given time and confess the fact. Thus
far the schools were not interfered with, and the mis-
sionaries were treated with reasonable consideration, but
in 1836 they were ordered to leave the island. This
mandate was not to be trifled with, and with deepest sor-
row and gravest apprehensions the poor converts were
left to themselves, as sheep without shepherds but in the
midst of ravening wolves ; but fortunately not until the
whole Bible had been translated, and a thousand copies
had been printed and distributed to the most earnest and
intelligent of the flock.

Days of darkness now befell, and were destined to last
a full half-century. Not that there were no seasons of
comparative freedom from savage persecution, for more
than once the queen and her prime minister seemed to
grow weary of shedding blood, or their attention was
drawn to other occupations, but there were four periods
of frenzy and pitiless infliction of suffering, which varied
in length from two to seven years, and each one more
terrible than any preceding. The saints were imprisoned

244 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

by the wholesale with heavy chains upon their limbs,
with confiscation of property, they were condencined to
lifelong slavery, were burned at the stake or scalded to
death, were buried alive, were speared, were flung over
the edge of lofty precipices. iVnd in the incidents and
the outcome of those woful times of measureless suffering
are to be found some of the shining marvels of Christian
history. Seldom if ever elsewhere has it been so aston-
ishingly true that the blood of the martyrs was the seed
of the church. Remember that they who suffered for
righteousness' sake were deprived of their trusted teach-
ers and guides, all Bibles and other religious books were
destroyed so far as they could be found, all assemblies
were forbidden, spies were everywhere watching the sus-
pected, they were scattered everywhere in the mountains,
the caves, the jungles. And the phenomenon is two-fold.
First, that during all those twenty-five dreadful years, so
few who had been baptized fell away and turned back
through fear of pain and death. From among all classes,
from high-born and low-born, the aged and also the
young, men and women alike, faced heroically and with-
out flinching the severest penalties, and in all their ago-
nies were calm and joyful. And, second, in spite of all,
even by means of the tragical scenes enacted, the number
of believers steadily increased, and so rapidly that the
2,000 at the beginning had become 40,000 at the end.
The contagion of zeal and devotion infected the court
and entered the very palace of the queen, so that her son,
and a son of the prime minister, took rank with the ab-
horred Christians, and also many of the higher nobility.
It was not until 1861 and by the death of Ranavalona
that eff'ectual relief came. Then her son reigned in her
stead, who, though not a true disciple, yet held Chris-

MISSIONS IN AFRICA; MADAGASCAR. 245

tianity in honor, and gave every encouragement to its ad-
herents. The transformation was sudden and complete
from the depths to the heights, from the horror of great
darkness to brightest sunshine, from almost despair to
hope and glad fruition. Back flocked the thousands from
slavery, bonds and long imprisonment, and from various
places of concealment. The maimed and half-starved
came forth as from the grave. Within a single month
eleven places of worship were opened in the capital alone,
and many more in the region surrounding. Presently,
too, the missionaries were back again and in larger
numbers than before. Several memorial churches were
built upon spots where martyr blood had most freely
flowed. This reign was but brief, and the next ruler was
a queen not Christian, but wholly favorable to those who
were. Dying in 1869, she was followed by Ranavalona
II., who with her prime minister, was baptized not long
after and received into the church. The burning of the
nation's idols followed in due season, and the proclama-
tion of the fullest religious liberty. Christianity, from
being hated and proscribed, had now become popular and
fashionable, and multitudes of all classes and conditions
flocked to the missionaries to be baptized. The only
trouble was to sift the candidates, and repress those who
were unfit to be received to fellowship. In 1868 there
were 20,000 who professed to have forsaken their idols,
the next year the number had risen to 163,000, and the
year after to 231,000. In spite of the utmost of caution
and care many were admitted to the churches who have
since proved their utter lack of vital godliness, and even
to this day the harm then done is felt far and wide among
the churches.
In 1866 the Norwegian Lutherans entered Madagascar

246 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

and opened a mission, and the next year came also the
English Friends, and both not to divide and proselyte,
but to aid and co-operate in gathering in the abundant
harvest. All these have richly shared the divine blessing
which has been vouchsafed to this field. Schools have
been planted in large numbers and are everywhere held
in high esteem by the people. Schools for normal, med-
ical and industrial training are sustained. Besides what
the missionaries are doing, the government makes educa-
tion compulsory for those of a certain age. From among
the Hovas evangelizing efforts are spreading in every sec-
tion to the more degraded tribes ; and the churches are
sending out a number to do home missionary work, meet-
ing also the expense incurred. But, for all that so much
has been accomplished, though the triumphs of the cross
are already magnificent, much more still remains to be
done. It is estimated that more than two-thirds of the
population of Madagascar is yet pagan. Besides a large
proportion of those who have honestly received the truth,
and walk to the best of their ability in the light, have
sorest need of further enlightenment. The government,
though Christian in spirit and sympathy, is neutral as to
its attitude towards different denominations and different
religions. The Jesuits from first to last have been mis-
chief-makers, seeking to rule in every sphere, and always
acting as the spies and schemers for France ; and for years
the French Republic has been endeavoring in every possi-
ble way to reduce the Malagasy to the estate of vassalage,
and finally succeeded a few years since, after several
bloody wars, and with the consent of Great Britain, in
establishing a protectorate of the African style over the
island. And it is perhaps just at this point that the fu-
ture of Madagascar is clouded with omens of evil.

CHAPTER XV.

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA.

" The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice ; let the mul-
titude of isles be glad thereof. " * ' And the isles shall wait
for his law." If we omit from the list such insular tracts
as lie within the pale of Christendom, with New Zealand
and its only forty thousand aborigines, and Tasmania
whose native races have utterly disappeared ; and further
omit a half-dozen of the largest which remain ; and be-
sides reserve Japan for a separate treatment, the thirty
thousand islands, more or less, scattered over the earth's
surface, constitute but an insignificant fraction of the
land area. Nor taken altogether, great and small, do
they compare for size with the least of the continents.
And again, if we leave out of the account a few which
are most thickly inhabited, the aggregate population of
those remaining is as nothing to the hordes and masses
which crowd such countries as India and China. The
number is not much greater than that found in the Turk-
ish Empire, or in Italy, or Spain. This table will pre-
sent these two facts impressively to the eye.

New Guinea,

Borneo,

Madagascar,

Sumatra,

'I'he Philippines ( I400)>

Celebes,

Java,

West Indies (looo),

247

Area.

Population.

310,000

660,000

285,000

1,600,000

230,000

3,500,000

160,000

2,718,000

114,300

7,000,000

70,000

800,000

50,800

23,900,000

92,270

5,500,000

Area.

Population.

41,650

1,632,000

28,250

1,500,000

25,364

3,008,460

7.750

63,000

7.740

125,400

6,640

90,000

5'3oo

75,000

3.550

806,700

1.750

200,000

560

35,000

375

23,000

170

36,800

248 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Cuba,

Haiti,

Ceylon,

New Caledonia,

Fiji Group (200),

Hawaiian Islands,

New Hebrides (30),

Porto Rico,

Trinidad,

Caroline Islands,

Society Islands,

Gilbert Islands,

And yet, the historic importance of the islands is ex-
ceeding great, is out of all proportion to their relative
superficies, or to the number of their inhabitants. Take,
for example, the scores which dot the surface of the
^gean, or Sicily, or Malta, or England. Islands have
played from the very first a most prominent part in the
spread of the Gospel. The fact is prophetic that the
earliest missionary tour outside of Asia was directed to
Cyprus. For long centuries Ireland was emphatically
the " Isle of Saints," and with lona, a mere speck of soil
and rock off the Scottish coast, supplied a large part of
the spiritual force which wrought the conversion of Eu-
rope. For centuries also Rhodes and Malta stood as im-
pregnable bulwarks against the assaults of the Saracens.
And no continent to-day can match Great Britain, as a
civilizing and Christianizing power throughout the whole
world. Moreover, the first Moravian missionary under-
taking had the evangelization of the West Indies as its
object, and of Greenland as the next. For years Carey
planned to devote himself to the enlargement of the
kingdom in the South Seas, a region selected a little
later by the London Society for the beginning of its
work. The American Board established its second mis-

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 241^

sion in Ceylon, and soon after despatched a company to
bear the message of salvation to the Sandwich Islands.
Nor is it to be forgotten, that nowhere else have the con-
quests of the cross been so astonishing or so complete.
The import of this suggestion is sufficiently set forth by
a mere reference to the group just named, or to Fiji,
or Tahiti, or Madagascar, or Japan that marvel among
missions during the last two decades. And finally, if we
are in search of great names intimately connected with
the introduction of the Gospel into heathen lands, names
which stand for eminent genius, energy and consecrated
zeal, we can be easily content with such as Williams and
Marsden, Selwyn and Patteson, and those who in Fiji
and Hawaii bore the heat and burden of the day.

Of the multitude of the earth's islands by far the
greater portion is found in the southern Pacific, the
South Seas of a century since. And they lie on both
sides of the equator, between twenty degrees north
latitude and twenty south, and extend over one hun-
dred and ten degrees of longitude, stretching from
southeastern Asia far towards distant South America.
The expanse covered is something like two thousand
miles by eight thousand, and within these roomy
limits, the greatest of oceans is a vast archipelago, a
very *' milky way of islets." A hundred years ago this
immense island world had but just been revealed to the
knowledge of civilized men. Captain Cook more than
any other was the honored discoverer (1768-79), and a
little later many eyes were turned thither by reading of
Captain Bligh and the mutiny of the ship Bounty. It
was a famous day, an occasion big with meaning for the
world's redemption, when the Duff, in 1796, sent forth
by the London Society which had come into existence

250 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

only a few months before, with thirty missionaries on
board set sail from the mouth of the Thames, bound for
the Society Islands, then thought to be an earthly
paradise inhabited by simple, docile, innocent and most
lovable children of nature. The tide of enthusiasm ran
high, and great things for the Gospel were expected
soon and easily to be brought to pass. But bitter dis-
appointment, and sorrow, and pain were in store, for the
better part of two decades the two words, failure and
waste, seemed to sum up the results, though as we now
can plainly discern, the results of that undertaking,
direct and indirect, near and more remote, were so
various and so great, that the ship which bore the
pioneers to their destination may fittingly be classed
with the Mayflower, and even with the three caravels
which some three hundred years before put forth west-
ward from Palos. Of the thirty missionaries only four
were clergymen, for men of that class who were both
fit and willing to exchange Christian for pagan lands,
were scarcely to be found, while six women and three
children were added to the company. Unlearned
artisans were in a large majority, blacksmiths, carpen-
ters, shoemakers, weavers, butchers, etc. In seven
months Tahiti was reached, eighteen were landed,
while the rest were carried on to other groups. Like all
the Polynesians, the natives were in demeanor gentle
and genial, were social and hospitable ; they received
the white strangers with great demonstrations of joy and
kind feeling, supplied them with food in abundance,
and showered upon them favors of all sorts, while King
Pomare made a liberal grant of land, and bestowed the
gift of a large building. And so, what could be more
delightful, or fuller of encouragement ? But all these

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 25 1

appearances proved most deceitful. With two ship-
wrecked Swedes found upon the island to help as in-
terpreters, religious services were held almost at once,
the study of the language was commenced and explora-
tions were made in all directions, extending to other
islands of the group. For some months all things went
well, though signs quickly appeared that this was not
Arcadia, and that these were none other than down-
right savages of the vilest and most villainous sort.
Depravity in exceedingly revolting shapes thrust itself
upon their notice, indecency was shocking for both
amount and degree, some were cannibals, infanticide
was common, and chastity was unknown. The property
of the missionaries was coveted, especially their axes,
knives, and other tools, and a plot was formed to rob
them of all they possessed. Then a little later, perhaps
in some considerable measure through their own un-
wisdom and lack of tact, three were assaulted and
barely escaped being thrown into the sea. As a result,
so much were they cast down, and so full of fear, that
eleven took advantage of the presence of a vessel to de-
part from this land of horrors. Of the seven who re-
mained, one presently joined himself to a native
woman and not long after was found dead, while an-
other fell into gross immorality and renounced Chris-
tianity. The little remnant, however, toiled faithfully
on, with frequent wars to add to their woes. In 1801 a
reinforcement of thirteen was made to the mission, and
several who had abandoned the work returned. Schools
were opened in various places, the language was re-
duced to writing and a translation of the Scriptures was
pushed forward. Even yet, and in spite of their best
endeavors, they often found themselves the objects of

252 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

ridicule and evil treatment, thieving continued, and
their lives were finally in such danger that the entire
company turned their backs upon the island. The
king, however, hearing of this, was sorry and sent an
urgent message urging them to return, nor was it long
before he began to display manifestations of a radical
spiritual change in progress. He had learned to read
and write, and now made many inquiries concerning
God and the way of life, as well as declared plainly by
his conduct that he held idols in contempt. Next,
several of the principal chiefs became interested in
things religious, and requests for baptism began to be
made. Then one day a native was overheard in the
forest pouring out his soul in prayer. Upon Eimeo and
Huahine, as well as Tahiti, such tokens of good things
at hand steadily increased. In 1813 upwards of fifty
expressed a readiness to cast away their false gods, and
then began a destruction of all emblems of idolatry. In
181 7 a printing press was set up and produced a tre-
mendous impression far and wide. In 18 19 Pomare
built a chapel 712 feet by 54, and soon after in the
presence of a great multitude was baptized, the first of
all the pagans in the South Seas. The number of con-
verts rapidly rose to hundreds and thousands, idols
were burned by the wholesale, nor was it long before
almost the entire population was under careful religious
instruction and had become Christian at least in name.
But this day of joy dawned not until after two and
twenty years of tearful seed-sowing and tilling of the
soil. At the end of twelve years the field still appeared
to be hopelessly barren and desert ; when fifteen years
had passed no fruit had been gathered, but now a great
harvest was ripe and a blissful period of reaping ensued.

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 253

In 1835 a complete translation of the Scriptures was
printed.

The full significance of the evangelization of the So-
ciety Islands does not appear until account is taken of
the effects of this notable religious overturning which
were felt throughout Polynesia. Starting in Tahiti, the
tide of spiritual blessing and renovation spread in all
directions, the divine impulse was imparted to other
groups, and scores of islands were lifted into a new and
heavenly life. Having had joyful experience of pardon
and cleansing and peace with God through Jesus Christ,
the happy converts were wisely taught at once to impart
to others of the unspeakable gift. The Hervey Group
was among the earliest recipients of the message of sal-
vation, consisting of six islands, and lying some six
hundred miles to the west. In this and various similar
undertakings, John Williams, the future martyr of Er-
romanga, played a prominent part, was perhaps the
chief personal force. He had been sent to the South
Seas in 18 16, had made his headquarters upon Raiatea,
one of the largest islands in the Society Group, but ere
long his faith, and desire, and endeavor, had become
coextensive with the bounds of the Pacific, and he
began to push out in all directions. In 182 1 two Chris-
tian natives were ordained as teachers and set apart for
service in the regions beyond. Mr. Williams sailed
with these for Aitutaki, where they were kindly received
with promise of protection. However, persecution be-
fell at first, and great discouragement, though after a
year had passed a general movement against the worship
of idols set in. Hearing of this, the brethren in Tahiti
determined to enlarge the force, and despatched two
missionaries and six native teachers to occupy the other

254 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

islands. Arriving at Aitutaki they found the Sabbath
carefully kept, all the people attendants upon the public
services, and family prayer generally instituted. But as
yet Rarotonga remained undiscovered, and so Mr.
Williams sailed in search of it. Success at length
rewarding his attempt, two teachers were landed upon
its shores to tell the story of a Saviour's love to the
ignorant and vile. Within two years as much was
accomplished as had required the labor of fifteen years
in Tahiti. In later times this great leader and apostle
of the Gospel declared concerning the Rarotongans :
" When I found them in 1823 they were ignorant of the
nature of Christian worship; and when I left them in
1834 I am not aware that there was a house in the island
where family prayer was not observed every morning
and evening." Here it was also that a training insti-
tution was established where teachers and pastors were
fitted for lives of usefulness.

In the same year, 182 1, Christianity was introduced
into the Austral Islands, situated about the same dis-
tance to the south, and on this wise. A young chief
had left home while a destructive pestilence was raging,
and had finally drifted to Tahiti. Here he learned to
his astonishment that idolatry had been everywhere
overthrown, and the worship of the unseen God set up
in its place. He sought out the missionaries and at-
tended the services, was convinced of the truth, desired
to take back to his friends the good things he saw and
heard, and asked for teachers. Two native deacons
volunteered to go, and with them some books were sent,
including a few copies of the New Testament. Other
Tahitan toilers were added later for the other islands of
the group. A general stir resulted, attended with not a

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 255

little debate and some opposition, but within less than
half a decade, with only an occasional visit from the
missionaries — that is, almost wholly by the efforts of
those who themselves had but recently emerged from the
follies, and sins, and abominations, of heathenism — the
institutions of the Gospel were well planted, and mul-
titudes were redeemed.

Samoa, or the Navigator's Group, was the next to be
entered from the Society Islands by those who carried
the bread and the water of life. And here too, John
Williams was the chief instrument. In this case not less
than two thousand miles of ocean space lying to the
westward must be sailed over. In those days commerce
and travel were but slight in the South Seas. In order
to make the long passage it became necessary to con-
struct a ship sufficiently large, and this in the well-nigh
utter absence of all facilities for the performance of the
task, with the added serious lack of all experience in
such undertakings. But unappalled, he set resolutely
about the task, and tugged away at the seemingly im-
possible, until finally the ^'Messenger of Peace," sixty
feet in length, and of seventy-five tons burden, was
launched and ready for use, as nondescript a craft as
ever plowed the waves. It was in 1830 that this mis-
sionary ship-builder and navigator set sail for Samoa,
with seven teachers, bent on errands of salvation. For
two years the latter were left to themselves, to till the
soil and plant the seed of the kingdom in the thirteen
islands with some thirty-five thousand inhabitants.
Their labors were richly blessed from on high, so that
by the end of that period consciences had been quick-
ened, and the foundations of idolatry had been shaken.
In one locality fifty were ready to come out on the

256 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Lord's side. In 1835 a company of missionaries with
their wives made their advent to aid in evangelizing
and instructing the willing-hearted, and at the close of
a decade the outward symbols of paganism had disap-
peared, and Christianity was triumphant. Where before
rapine and violence were universal, and as good as con-
stant, with the accompaniment of murder, and canni-
balism, and all manner of horrors, were now found
many godly lives, happy homes, large congregations of
devout worshippers, with public peace and the spirit of
brotherly love.

All the wonders thus far recorded were wrought, by di-
vine grace, through the instrumentality of the London
Society, which was the first to enter this broad and deso-
late field. But this organization was not left alone for
many years to struggle with the mighty powers of dark-
ness, with none to sympathize and co-operate. For the
English Wesleyan Church had begun to turn with burn-
ing desire and determined zeal towards the same perish-
ing millions in the South Pacific. The Friendly Islands,
called also from the principal island the Tonga Group,
fifteen in number, and situated to the southwest of
Samoa at a distance of three or four hundred miles, were
selected as the place of beginning. The pioneer heralds
of the cross were transported thither in 1822, that is,
when after the long night of almost toil in Tahiti the
morning had dawned, and just after the light had begun
to break upon the Hervey, and the Austral groups. The
Duff, after leaving a company of missionaries in the
Society Islands, had taken ten others to Tongabatu.
Though their reception was sufficiently pleasant, not
many months elapsed before in a war which broke out
among the savage tribes they were robbed of everything

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 257

they possessed, three were murdered, and the survivors
were reduced to utter destitution. After three years of
suffering, with no hope of relief from England, they
abandoned the mission. The first Wesleyan who landed
on the same island fared no better, and was treated with
such rudeness that he, too, took his departure. In 1826
two more were sent to this desert field, with others to
follow later, and in spite of provoking and disheartening
opposition, and seemingly with only their labor for their
pains, set about the construction of buildings and the
study of the language, meanwhile watching for oppor-
tunities to find access to darkened minds and obdurate
hearts. Besides, certain teachers from Tahiti had been
at work with better results, having even gathered quite a
number of disciples. By '1830, in not a few, faith in
idols had been shaken. In one of the islands a promi-
nent chief hung up by the neck five famous gods of wood
and stone that the people might see that they were dead,
while in another eighteen temples were burned with all
their images. After this turning to the Lord, churches
were organized, schools were opened, and in all the is-
lands hereabouts the sway of the Gospel was inaugu-
rated. In 1833 king George of Tonga became supreme
ruler throughout the group, while the year following a
remarkable visitation of the Spirit was vouchsafed re-
sulting in thousands of genuine conversions, the king
being among the number. This truly eminent chieftain
has only recently died, and, for the most part, through
a long career proved himself a humble and faithful ser-
vant of Christ, and a tower of strength to truth and
righteousness.

And it was from Tonga, and by the Wesleyans, that
the name and spirit of the Prince of Peace were carried

2^8 A HUNDRED YEARS Oi' MISSIONS.

to Fiji, then a spot as vile, and as full of demoniac hor-
rors, as the earth's surface contained. For years the
name had been a synonym for the extreme of the beastly
and the ferocious. Lust ran riot unchecked, and every
vilest passion, the sick and aged were killed without
pity, widows must needs die with their husbands, and
slaves were slain to accompany their masters to the
world of shades. But more than all, cannibalism was
in the forefront among barbarous practices. It had be-
come a part of religion, the matter of every day, to
kill, and roast in ovens, and devour captives taken in
war, the shipwrecked, etc., and for wanton destruction
of human life on slightest occasion the demands were
numberless. Scores at a time would be slain, far more
than it was possible to eat, so that only the arms and
legs of the victims were cooked, while the trunks were
thrown away. And it was to this veritable pandemo-
nium, to such hell-hounds as these, and knowing full well
the import of the undertaking, that in the year of grace
1835, inspired by the great revival in Tonga, Cross and
Cargill, with their wives and a few native Christians,
stepped courageously on shore in Lakemba after a voyage
of about two hundred miles to the westward. Of the nearly
two hundred islands something like eighty are inhabited.
A volume would be required to tell what was endured
by these and others equally heroic who were added to
their number. Seldom if ever has it fallen to the lot of
the servants of the Most High to be placed in the midst
of surroundings at once so full of peril, and so loath-
some. But they held calmly on without flinching,
teaching, preaching, playing the part of peace-makers,
in their own lives showing the more excellent way.
Schools, a printing press, and various appliances of

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 259

civilization, were called to their aid. After about ten
years of prayers and tears and toils, sowing beside all
waters, the Spirit of God with wonderful renewing
power was poured out upon this scene of darkness and
depravity. The phenomena attending the revival were
in keeping with the savage natures wrought upon, there
was sore wrestling, and groaning, and crying out, but
the devil of beastliness was effectually expelled. Not
that all, or many, were lifted at once to the heights of
saintliness, but that an extensive, an almost general be-
ginning ensued of turning away in all sincerity from a
multitude of evil things, and towards things which are
pure, and honest, and lovely, and of good report. From
that day to this, perhaps nowhere else in Christendom
can communities be found in which so large a propor-
tion are able to read, are found regularly in attendance
upon public worship, and faithful in maintaining family
prayer, and according to their knowledge and ability
bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. Darwin's em-
phatic words find nowhere better proof and commentary
than in Fiji : *' The march of improvement consequent
upon the introduction of Christianity throughout the
South Seas probably stands by itself in the records of
history. Within twenty years, human sacrifices, the
power of an idolatrous priesthood, profligacy unparal-
leled in any other part of the world, infanticide and
bloody wars not sparing women and children, all these
have been abolished, and dishonesty, intemperance and
licentiousness have been greatly reduced."

The scene changes once more, and this time to the
north Pacific, as well as to the operations of a third so-
ciety, whose work for the welfare of the islands of the
sea began early, was carried on with vigor and sound

a6o A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

discretion, and was crowned with distinguished success.
Of course the reference is to the American Board, and
its mission to the Hawaiian Islands. This group, con-
taining ten islands, is situated about twenty degrees north
of the equator, twenty-four hundred miles north of Ta-
hiti, twenty-one hundred miles southwest of San Fran-
cisco, thirty-four hundred and forty miles from Yoko-
hama, and forty-nine hundred from Hong Kong. To
Captain Cook belongs the honor of discovery, and in
Kealakakua he met his tragic fate in 1779. The story
has been told many times of Obookiah, found one day
in 1809 sitting upon the steps of one of the buildings of
Yale College, and weeping because he longed to gain an
education and knew not how it could be secured. And
how he said later: *' The people of Hawaii are very
bad ; they pray to gods made of wood. I want to learn
to read the Bible, and go back there and tell them to
pray to God up in heaven." This youth was befriended
by Samuel J. Mills; next a mission school was opened at
Cornwall, Conn., in which he and certain others could
be fitted to labor for the evangelization of their country-
men, and at length, in 18 19, the brig Thaddeus with
nineteen missionaries was ready to sail. And stranger
still was the varied providential preparation made for
this eventful undertaking. First, after a period of bloody
wars, the islands had all been brought under one govern-
ment by King Kamehameha. Next, this same able ruler
had become restive under the tyranny of the priesthood
and the bondage of the tabu. In 1793 he had asked
Vancouver to see that religious teachers were sent to him
from England. And finally, the news had reached
Hawaii of the complete overthrow of idolatry in the So-
ciety Islands, as well as various letters from Obookiah

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 26 1

and others in America telling of the Christian faith. So
that when Kamehameha died, while the messengers of
peace were on their way, an open revolt against idolatry-
ensued. After a voyage of five months, when the brig
cast anchor the astounding intelligence was imparted that
no small portion of the work they had come to perform
was already accomplished, for they were to labor among
a people without a religion. After a little hesitation,
Thurston, Bingham and the rest were received with kind-
ness, and were soon at work. The chief opposition orig-
inated with sailors and other foreigners, to whom the
presence of earnest Christian men and women was not in
the least agreeable. The good seed sown began almost
at once to spring up. The king and queen, and divers
influential chiefs, were usually in attendance at public
worship, with large numbers of their followers. At the
end of eight years twelve thousand hearers of the word
could be counted, and twenty-seven thousand pupils in
the schools. The New Testament was presently in cir-
culation in the vernacular, and was read with eagerness,
and among high and low deep conviction of sin began to
appear, with hundreds of sound conversions to righteous-
ness. In 1836 a large reinforcement of laborers was re-
ceived and distributed among the islands, and two years
later the heavens were opened for the outpouring of such
a spiritual blessing as has seldom been bestowed upon
any people. For six years together the power of the
Spirit was displayed, with Hilo, and the ministry of
Titus Coan, as the most notable scene of the wonders
wrought. Among the results twenty-seven thousand
were added to the churches, a radical and general change
came to social customs, and the government became
Christian to an extent seldom elsewhere seen. By 1863

262 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

the American Board deemed the work of founding and
building for the kingdom so thoroughly accomplished as
to justify its withdrawal from the management of reli-
gious affairs, and to demand that upon the native churches
should be put the entire burden of maintaining and push-
ing forward the King's business.

And furthermore, Hawaii, like Tahiti and Tonga, was
called to impart of what it had received, and to bear the
Gospel to other groups of Pacific islands. In 1850 a
missionary society was formed looking to the evangeliza-
tion of Micronesia, with its thousands of islands, and ly-
ing far to the south and west. In 1852 the Board des-
patched several missionaries to open work in the Caroline
and the Gilbert groups. Calling at Honolulu, seven na-
tive Christians were found ready to accompany them,
though only two with their wives went at that time. This
was only thirty-three years from the date of the sailing of
the brig Thaddeus from Boston harbor, and behold, a
nation which then had never heard the Gospel, is now
ready and eager to proclaim to the perishing in the deso-
late regions beyond the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Kusaie and Ponape were chosen as centers of influence,
though various other islands were occupied then or later,
and in 1857 a beginning was made in the Marshall Group
also. Here, too, Americans and Hawaiians were asso-
ciated in effecting the overthrow of idolatry, the banish-
ing of gross superstitions by the diffusion of the truth,
and the kindling of holy desires. But the same year a
mission, purely Hawaiian in its management and mem-
bers, was founded in the remote Marquesas Islands. An
urgent request for teachers had been brought in person
by one of the prominent chiefs who had heard of the
Gospel and its blessings from the lips of a young Kanaka

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 263

trained in one of the mission schools, then left sick in
the Marquesas, and finally marrying a daughter of the
chief. In response to this Macedonian cry two native
pastors were sent out and an English mechanic. These
four missions have passed through iheir full share of vi-
cissitudes, have suffered discouragement and serious dis-
aster, not from outbreaks of savagery, or from the hard-
ness of the heathen heart, but from the officious inter-
meddling of European governments and the machinations
of Roman Catholic priests. But in spite of all, the
institutions of the Gospel have been reared, and thou-
sands have been redeemed from sin and raised to a new
life.

The story of how Christ was preached to the perishing
in New Zealand is next in order. Two islands, the North
and South, are included under this name, and they lie
some two thousand miles to the southeast of Australia.
An area of 100,000 square miles is divided nearly equally
between them. This is a land of fountains and streams
and charming lakes ; manifold attractions abound, and
the climate is delightful. The inhabitants when first vis-
ited were found intelligent, brave, and not without vari-
ous other attractive traits, but taken all in all, were well-
nigh a match for the Fijians in the diabolical outbreaks
of ferocity to which they were addicted. Thieving
among them was a virtue, war was a passion, and they
ate their enemies out of the impulse of pure revenge.
Samuel Marsden, the apostle of New Zealand, while a
convict chaplain in New South Wales, had met some of
these fiends incarnate, his soul was strangely drawn out
in sympathy for them, and in 1807, while on a visit to
England, he urged the Church Society to undertake the
task of preaching Christ in these dark abodes of cruelty.

264 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Since no clergymen were to be had in those primitive
days, three artisans were selected to lead in making the
perilous attempt. On board the ship which bore them to
their destination there ''chanced " to be a poor Maori, who
had been beguiled into working his passage to England,
and then had been robbed of his wages, and left at the
point of starvation. Marsden befriended poor Tuatara,
both on shipboard and afterwards while waiting in Aus-
tralia, and sent him forward to his home and friends to
prepare the way for the advent of the evangelists. Not
until 18 14 was the master-missionary able to lead a com-
pany to the islands, composed of mechanics, settlers, and
some chiefs who were returning, transporting also horses,
cattle, sheep and poultry, which were altogether unknown
to the natives. Casting anchor in the Bay of Islands,
with Tuatara on hand to welcome and introduce him, he
was received with eclat, and kept Christmas on shore
with a religious service, and a sermon from the text,
" Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy." After-
wards, to testify their great delight, a troop of three hun-
dred cannibals, scantily attired and thoroughly tattooed,
surrounded the missionary, dancing, shouting and yelling
in fashion most blood-curdling. Other helpers came in
due season, a few clergymen at length, and attempts were
made to teach and preach ; but little heed was paid to
the heavenly message, and all hearts were found stony,
and sordid, and altogether earthy. Besides, in the fre-
quent wars, their lives were often in greatest peril. After
eleven dreadful years, in 1825, a single native seemed to
be penitent and was baptized, and then ensued five more
years without any semblance of fruit. The saintly and
apostolic Bishop Selwyn came to his forbidding diocese
in 1842, bringing also a large reinforcement. Nor was

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 265

it long before a most abundant and wide-spread harvest
of souls was gathered in.

But while the English Church was toiling, watching
and waiting, the Wesleyans also had entered to co-
operate, coming in 1818 at the suggestion of Mr. Mars-
den, though the appearance in London of two Maori
chiefs gave a great impulse in the same direction.
Choosing Warangoa in the northern island as the site
for a mission, the foundations were scarcely laid when a
furious war broke out, and the missionaries barely es-
caped with their lives. A second start was made the
next year, and after the utmost of endeavor, as late as
1830 no encouraging token appeared, so that abandon-
ment of the work was in contemplation. But a few
months later saw several scores of savages under instruc-
tion, and a class with five members was formed. On a
single Sunday in 1834, eighty-four converts were bap-
tized, and fourteen couples were married, and by 1838
sixteen chapels had been built, at one of which a thou-
sand worshippers were wont to gather.

So many and so zealous had been the heralds of the
Gospel, so copious had been the outpourings of the
Spirit, and so mighty to convince and convict had been
the word, that at the end of thirty years from the land-
ing of the devoted convict chaplain. New Zealand could
be regarded as at least evangelized, if not also Chris-
tianized. But, unfortunately, as it seems to human gaze.
Great Britain was led, for reasons which cannot here be
given, to set up a protectorate over the islands. This
led to the entrance of settlers, and to furious and pro-
tracted land disputes, and finally to years of armed
strife, among v/hose most lamentable results were these
two ; multitudes ot the Maories were slain in battle, and

266 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

for multitudes more the strain to faith, and patience, and
endurance, was too great, and they fell away into their
old superstitions. This calamity befell in the sixties,
and its evil effects are still widely felt. Out of some
two hundred thousands of natives only about forty thou-
sand remain, and these are gathered upon a reservation
in the northern island.

The New Hebrides easily take rank with Fiji and
New Zealand for the unspeakable and measureless atroci-
ties to which their population was prone, and fairly excel
either or both in respect to the loss of life by violence
which their redemption has cost the Christian Church.
This group is situated about a thousand miles to the
north of New Zealand, and about six hundred miles to
the west of Fiji. The islands number about thirty, and
nearly twenty languages are spoken upon them, some-
times two or three in different parts of a single one.
However unlike the inhabitants may chance to be, they
are all alike passionate, treacherous, and hold strangers
responsible for storms, death, disease or any other visi-
tations of evil. In justice however it should be added,
that they are inhospitable and blood-thirsty in no in-
considerable degree because of the cruel wrongs which
they have long suffered at the hands of sailors, traders,
and labor agents if possible more unscrupulous and
abandoned to wickedness than themselves. This annex
to the pit of woe was first visi=ted in 1839 by those who
pitied the people and would endeavor to melt their
hearts by telling the story of redeeming love. John
Williams for almost a quarter of a century had been
sailing hither and thither over the South Pacific found-
ing missions and distributing preachers and teachers,
and now came hither on the same errand. He had

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 267

brought a number of Polynesian disciples who were
ready to jeopardize their lives that they might win souls,
and had put them on shore at various points which
seemed most eligible. Reaching fateful Erromanga he
landed with a companion, and in a few minutes both
were murdered to furnish a cannibal feast. Not long
after this dreadful tragedy the London Society sent two
missionaries to Tanna, but after a sojourn of a few
months they were compelled to flee for their lives.
Then native teachers were again and again located upon
various islands, with the only result that most either
died from the effects of the climate, or were killed and
eaten by the savages. It was not until 1848 that a per-
manent mission was established, and on Aneityum, by
John Geddie, sent out by the Presbyterian Church of
Nova Scotia. With only his wife for counsel and com-
fort, he endured untold trials for four years, including
frequent thefts of property, and threats to burn their
buildings and take their lives. Then Mr. Inglis came
from Scotland, as an associate in labor and suffering.
In particular, the remarkable genius possessed by Mr.
Geddie for doing many things, whether in sailing or
journeying on foot, in carpentry, translating, printing,
teaching, preaching, administering medicine, and all
with unmistakable and every day tokens of his ardent
love for the very worst, excited admiration and finally
conquered confidence and even affection. Within two
years he could gather a congregation on the Sabbath to
listen to the Gospel story and join in worship. In 1852
thirteen were baptized and a church was formed, and
by 1854 the whole population had abandoned heathen-
ism, while by the end of another decade the island
could fairly be called Christian. As substantial evi-

268 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

dence that the conversions were genuine, it is enough to
state that by the time the entire Bible was translated and
ready to be printed, by cultivating and manufacturing
arrowroot the poor people had $6,000 in hand to meet
the expense, and that they have sent out one hundred
and fifty of their best men and women to adjoining is-
lands as teachers.

Fotuna was entered by teachers from Samoa in 1841,
but by the end of two years all had been killed and eaten,
or thrown into the sea. Their place was taken later and
held by Christians from Aneityum, and another from
Rarotonga, for twelve years, or until a missionary came
with his wife in i8'66. It was at this date that the Rev.
J. G. Paton began his notable career in the New Heb-
rides, locating upon Aniwa, where native teachers had
long been bearing the brunt of the fierce warfare against
the kingdom of darkness, a mission house was erected on
a spot frequently used for cannibal feasts, and eight years
more sufficed to establish the kingdom of light. But
Tanna was the principal scene of the almost unmatched
experiences and achievements of this prince among her-
alds of the cross in pagan lands. Thrice over Samoan
teachers and others had made the attempt to introduce
the Gospel, but had been compelled to save their lives
by flight. In 1854 however, some of the natives on a
visit to Aneityum, were so deeply impressed by what
they saw of the results of Christian civilization that they
asked for teachers, and these were able to remain. Mr.
Paton and others ventured into the den of lions in 1858
and years following, though with harrowing scenes,
deadly perils and fleeing for life to endure for a decade.
And Erromanga also, worst of all, was evangelized, but
only after much shedding of precious blood. After the

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 269

murder of Williams, Samoan teachers played the part of
pioneers in spite of frequent persecution, and occasional
expulsion by violence, several of the islanders were sent
to Samoa and Auckland to be trained and Christianized,
and were then returned to labor among their country-
men, and Aneityum disciples added their efforts. In
1857 the Rev. G. N. Gordon was sent from Nova Scotia,
filled four years with labors of love, and then, their fury
excited by the destruction wrought by a hurricane, and
a plague of measles introduced by a trading vessel, both
he and his wife were killed. After three years a brother
of the martyr, the Rev. J. S. Gordon, offered himself to
fill the vacant place, devoted his strength without stint
to the material and spiritual well-being of all about him,
and in 1872 met his death at the hands of a treacherous
native. But by this time the powers of evil had spent
their violence, other fervid and fearless souls took up
the Christlike task, converts soon began to multiply, and
now the forces are uppermost which make for right-
eousness, and peace, and joy. About twenty of the
islands may be called Christian, and some fourteen thou-
sand have been gathered into churches. Eight branches
of the Presbyterian Church are happily joined in the
New Hebrides mission. Mention must not be omitted
of Bishop Patteson and his distinguished services in
Melanesia, a man whose gifts and graces, whose godly
ambitions and achievements in a broad and desolate field
belong in the same list with those of Williams and
Selwyn. He also attained to the crown of martyrdom
in 187 1 in Nackapu, one of the northern islands of the
group, being slain by the savage natives, and because
his vessel was mistaken for the craft in which a party of
kidnappers had paid a visit not long before in the pur-

270 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

suit of their nefarious business, and which they had
painted to resemble the one in which his frequent voy-
ages were made.

A few words must suffice for New Guinea, the largest
of islands, but sparsely populated, little known in the in-
terior, and besides so recently visited with the Gospel
that not much of progress can be narrated. The Dutch,
the Germans and the British have divided the area be-
ween them, the latter taking the portion lying to the
southeast and nearest to Australia, from which it is sepa-
rated by Torres Strait. The Utrecht Society began work
as far back as 1863, and the London Society followed
in 1871, securing the bulk of its teachers in the South
Seas. Upwards of fifty stations have been opened along
the southeast coast, while the churches have about five
hundred members, and the schools about two thousand
pupils. The Wesleyans also have a mission in which
similar results can be reckoned, and the Rhenish Society
is engaged in breaking ground in Kaiser Wilhelm's Land
at the north. In all some seventy churches have been
formed, and nearly thirty native preachers are in the
field.

The East Indies.
Other terms applied to this vast and wonderful island
region are, the Spice Islands, the Moluccas, Malaysia,
the Indian Archipelago and the Malay Archipelago.
And the numerous bodies of land are included which
stretch over such a long line from the southeastern corner
of Asia almost to Australia. Since the seventeenth cen-
tury, the Dutch have been in possession at most points.
The Philippines are Spanish dependencies, and being
also intensely, and exclusively, and intolerantly Roman

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 27 1

Catholic, may be omitted from this review. The min-
ghng of races, and tribes, and religions, in these parts is
something amazing. In Singapore alone a hundred
tongues are said to be spoken, and the Bible is distrib-
uted in no less than forty-five. With Malays in a vast
majority, are jumbled Arabs, Chinamen, Siamese, Battas
in Sumatra and Dyaks in Borneo, etc., etc. The total
population of the East Indies is about 40,000,000, of
whom most are Moslems, and more than half are found
in Java. From the beginning Christian missions have
been very generally in the hands of Netherlanders,
though the Rhenish Society has toiled faithfully and with
most encouraging success, and the English Propagation
Society in certain sections has made an impression both
deep and broad.

Though Java is but the fourth island for size, in almost
every other respect it is of more importance than any of
its neighbors. The density of the population is nearly
equal to that of many portions of Europe, while the soil
yields a store of valuable productions such as few terri-
tories of equal extent can match. With the Dutch East
India Company in political control, a corporation whose
narrow and non-Christian policy much resembled its
British counterpart, we are not surprised to learn that not
much of value was undertaken for the spiritual elevation
of the natives. Though chaplains and others did some
evangelizing work, and several truly devout and earnest
men made proclamation of the Gospel, yet on the whole
the state so seriously defiled the church that the conver-
sions were but superficial and scarcely more than in
name. And hence it signifies little when we read that
in 171 2 there were in Java 100,000 " Christians." But
during this century missions have been on a vastly better

272 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

basis, and the Netherlands Society reports 12,000 con-
verts who have been secured in the main from the ranks
of the Mohammedans. A seminary has been opened in
Depok for the training of evangelists, from which seventy-
one have already graduated, coming from Borneo, Su-
matra, Sangir, Almaheira and Dutch New Guinea. And
this further should be said, to the praise of the Dutch
East India Company, now happily extinct. The New
Testament was translated into Malay as far back as 1688,
and the Old Testament in 1733, and both were printed
at the expense of this body of merchants.

The English Baptists sent missionaries to the Battas,
the aboriginal tribes of Sumatra, and dwelling in the in-
terior, in 1820, but for some reason their presence ex-
cited the jealousy and suspicion of the Dutch rulers,
who put so many hindrances in their way as to make it
seem expedient to abandon the field. Between 1827
and 1836 several missionaries from Holland entered the
island, to bestow their main attention upon the Chinese
immigrants, and yet making also not a few converts
among the Malays, and whether heathen or Moslem. In
1834 the American Board designated Munson and Lyman
to carry the Gospel to the Battas, but while they were
exploring to fix upon the best location for work, a war
broke out among the savages, and both were murdered.
It is the Rhenish Society of Germany which has wielded
the chief evangelizing force in Sumatra. Beginning in
i860, two quite extensive fields have been tilled, with
Toba Lake yielding the richest harvest of souls brought
to a knowledge of Jesus. And not only are the heathen
casting away their idols, but more and more the follow-
ers of the false Prophet are turning from him to the
Saviour of the world. In the neighboring island of

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 273

Nias many converts have also been made. The entire
number of adherents exceeds twenty -five thousand, the
communicants are about six thousand, and forty-two
hundred were baptized in 1892. It is in Sumatra that
this society finds its strongest mission.

Borneo is the largest island in the East Indies, but is
thinly inhabited. The aboriginal Dyaks of the interior
deserve a place among the strangest of people, whose
houses are commonly built on piles, and numerous fami-
lies are found dwelling in a single structure several hun-
dred feet in length. Until Christianity and civilization
had done their work, war was their chief end, with
head-taking as the special concomitant. Beheading was
performed by the wholesale, on the slightest occasion
and without ceremony, and with very much the same
idea as scalps were removed by our Indians. A young
man was not allowed to marry until he was possessed of
a number of these hideous tokens of his skill and
prowess, while a large assortment constituted the glory
of the family. The graves of chiefs were fenced about
with a line of heads, and there was no more efficacious
safeguard against evil spirits than that secured by a pious
offering of sculls. In 1839 the American Board sent a
company of missionaries to this island, to enter upon
what proved to be a ten years' struggle with the Dutch
authorities, whose settled policy was to exclude all for-
eigners from the interior, and finally, after some had
died, the survivors were instructed to retire from the
field. Beginning in 1834, within twenty years a score
of ambassadors for Christ were located among the Dyaks
in South Borneo by the Rhenish Society. With slight
encouragement at first, at length a marked change began
to be visible in the barbarous head-takers. But of a

2 74 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

sudden, in 1859, stirred up by the fanatical Mohammed-
ans, the heathen party rose in murderous fury and killed
four, with three of their wives and several children, pil-
laged the mission and pulled down the buildings. And
so in an hour the work of a quarter of a century was prac-
tically annihilated. To crown their sorrows, the mis-
sionaries were held responsible for the outbreak by the
Dutch rulers, and were treated with worse than coldness
and neglect. But with the utmost of Christian heroism
they held on, and in 1866 better days began to dawn.
Upwards of thirty native helpers have been raised up,
and a training school is maintained to fit evangelists to
labor for the redemption of their Dyak countrymen.
Some seven hundred are found in the churches and the
adherents are numbered by the thousand. The Propaga-
tion Society (S. P. G.) came to North Borneo in 1847,
and through the presence there of the famous English-
man, Rajah Brooke of Sarawak, and from that day to
this a body of godly and self-denying men have devoted
themselves to the welfare of certain tribes notorious and
dreaded far and wide for frequent acts of piracy, as well
of others further inland ; nor have their arduous labors
been in vain. The beneficent institutions of the Gospel
have been planted and are steadily growing, and many
souls have been redeemed from sin.

Nowhere in the Indian Archipelago do the effects ot
Dutch rule and evangelistic effort appear to better ad-
vantage than in Celebes, and especially in Minahassa, the
northeast portion. Many heathen were instructed and
baptized during the last century, and in 1822 the Neth-
erlands Society sent its representatives to begin special
and systematic work. Other organizations have followed
to assist in sowing and reaping, and with such success

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 275

that now in a total population of 145,000 about 125,000
Protestant Christians are to be found. In Sangir also,
an island lying not far to the east of Minahassa, and so
recently desolated by a terrible catastrophe, where the
inhabitants number 80,000, more than a third have for-
saken their heathenism. And Amboyna has scarcely any
non-Christians left, whether pagan or Mohammedan.

In all the Dutch East Indies, according to Dean Vahl,
there are 60 European missionaries engaged in efforts to
Christianize the natives, representing 10 societies, with
31 native ministers and 253 other native helpers, and
49,882 communicants among the fruits of toil. The
Netherlands Society alone has some 90,000 adherents.
At the end of 1892 the Rhenish Society was maintain-
ing a staff of 46 Europeans, and 144 paid with 419 un-
paid native helpers. In the schools were 4,779 pupils,
and in the churches 6,809 communicants, while the ad-
herents aggregated almost 27,000, of whom 4,550 were
added last year. According to the census of 1890 there
was a total of 277,450 Christians.

The West Indies.

This is a name bestowed by the immortal discoverer
under the impulse of a mistaken conviction, and it
stands for what a world of tragedy, of depravity, and of
shame ! '' From the second visit of Columbus until the
present century, these islands have been the scene of sor-
row and oppression. Their waters have been dyed with
human blood. . . . Piracy was rife, and the commerce
of Europe suffered from the marauding buccaneers who
smarted from the wrongs they suffered, and retaliated on
the innocent as well as the guilty. The slave trade had
its origin here, and the hardly less cruel importation of

276 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

coolies has left its curse. For years these islands were
England's penal colonies. Into this moral sewer was
swept the refuse of Europe. Is it strange, then, that
these lands should have been sunk in the lowest depths
of sin and degradation ? Various European nations have
parcelled out among themselves the islands which num-
ber nearly a thousand, and only Haiti is left independ-
ent. Spain holds Cuba, whose area almost equals that
of all the other members of the group combined, and
Porto Rico ; Great Britain claims ownership in the Ba-
hamas, Jamaica, Barbados, etc. ; France is master of
Guadaloupe, Martinique, etc. ; Denmark of St. Thomas,
Santa Cruz, etc. ; and the Netherlands of four small
islands. The original inhabitants have entirely disap-
peared. For years they were enslaved, worked to death
in the mines, or shipped over seas by their Spanish mas-
ters, and then with the energy of despair rising against
their inhuman oppressors were annihilated. In Haiti
alone two millions of aborigines were found, but in
thh'ty years scarcely one was left alive. Then Negro
slaves began to be imported, the Portuguese setting the
iniquitous example, and later every nation possessing
colonies in this region shared in the infamy to the full.
It is estimated that to Jamaica alone, between 1700 and
1786, not less than 600,000 were brought from African
shores. Almost everywhere the Negroes far outnumber
the whites. Hindus and Chinese, who are held in at
least semi-slavery, also constitute no inconsiderable part
of the population.

The Moravians were the first to hear and heed the
cry ot woe which ascended to heaven from these dread-
ful depths, and away back in 1734, when the whole
Christian world was dead to such sympathy and longing,

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 277

and sent two men to carry the light to those who sat in
the shadow of death. The scene of their earliest labors
and sufferings was in the Danish possessions. The de-
graded and most wretched creatures, who had never
heard of joy and peace and salvation, at first wondered
and were incredulous concerning the message which of-
fered the riches of Divine love to such as they, but were
soon eager to listen and glad to accept. Aside from the
dense ignorance and superstition of the slaves, the prin-
cipal obstacles were placed in the way of the missionaries
by the Europeans, through their ungodliness, sectarian
prejudice, and the interference of the civil authorities.
In addition, the climate was so deadly that at the close
of eleven years thirty -five had found graves in West
Indian soil. But there was no lack of volunteers to fill
the places of those who were glad to die if need be. For
almost one hundred and sixty years these humble, pa-
tient, much-enduring bringers of good things to the low-
est of the low have held on, occupying in later times
Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, Tobago and Trinidad.
And their reward also has been commensurate with their
toil, in souls enlightened and sanctified and raised to
heaven. According to the latest report 46 principal
stations are occupied by 58 European missionaries of
both sexes, the pupils in the schools number 16,588, the
communicants 17,336 and the native Christians upwards
of 40,000.

The English Wesleyans were the next to offer to the
bondmen the freedom of the Gospel. In 1758 an Eng-
lish planter of Antigua while on a visit to his native land
had heard Wesley preach, was deeply wrought upon,
turned Methodist, and two of his slaves were baptized by
the great evangelist. Returning, he carried the truth as

278 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

it is in Jesus, and proclaimed it to both black and white
until his death. His place was filled by two slaves for a
season, but at length one Baxter, a shipwright and local
preacher, came to lead, and the congregation steadily
grew until large numbers were wont to assemble for wor-
ship. Then in 1786 came a reinforcement, and through
one of the strangest of providences. Dr. Coke had sailed
for Nova Scotia with several missionaries, but in a long
and furious tempest had been driven far to the south.
On Christmas Day the party, all weather -beaten and
covered with brine, landed in Antigua, and met Baxter
just on his way to hold a service. A thousand Negroes
were in attendance, to whom Coke preached, and was so
deeply impressed with their need and their eagerness to
receive, that he left the helpers he had with him in this
and the neighboring islands, and sent others in addi-
tion. One after another, twenty islands received the
Gospel by this *' accident," and among them were the
Bahamas, Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica. Several at-
tempts were made to enter Haiti, but on account of the
trying climate, frequent revolutions and Roman Catholic
intolerance, not much has been accomplished. In Ja-
maica and elsewhere for many years constant opposition
was experienced, at first because of intense prejudice
against Methodists, and later because in all the bitter
struggle with slavery these missionaries gave their
hearty sympathy to those in bondage. But in spite of
all a great work has been accomplished, so that the con-
verts now number upwards of 40,000 and the attendants
upon public worship are more than 125,000.

The English Church Society and the Propagation So-
ciety Imve labored long and faithfully in the West
Indies, not only for the blacks, but for the white col-

THE ISLANDS OF THE SEA. 279

onists also. In 18 13 the Baptists of Great Britain un-
dertook missions in behalf of the enslaved, and by 183 1,
31 churches had been formed in Jamaica with 10,838
members. But in that year occurred an uprising of the
Negroes, which the missionaries were falsely accused of
countenancing, if not even instigating. William Knibb
and others were arrested, charged with rebellion, and
threatened with lynching by the planters, and several
chapels were burned. Other trials of a different kind
followed emancipation in 1834, but such was the growth
of the good work that in 1842 it became self-supporting.
The Jamaica Baptist Union now includes 173 churches
with 39,065 members, and there are 21,709 pupils in the
schools. Elsewhere among the islands considerable work
is done.

At its formation in 1847, the United Presbyterian
Church of Scotland entered into the labors of two so-
cieties, which had been engaged in the field for years,
but was called almost at once to pass through a most re-
markable and trying series of calamities, caused by
climate, by cholera, by tempest, and by the burning of a
vessel at sea, among the rest, to the loss of the lives of
half a dozen missionaries; but enduring to the end, are
able to point, both in Jamaica and Trinidad, to not a lit-
tle of substantial results for the furtherance of the king-
dom of righteousness. Thus the mission churches con-
tain 11,647 members. The Presbyterian Church of
Canada is in joint occupation of Trinidad, entering in
1869, but makes a specialty of caring for the bodies, and
minds, and souls, of East Indian coolies, who in that
island and the neighboring regions number more than
300,000. While many are continually coming and go-
ing, many others become permanent settlers. To these

28o A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

heathen whose case is so forlorn, who under contract-
labor upon the sugar plantations are in a condition of
semi-slavery, the glad tidings were carried, that, even for
them the Son of God offered his life in loving sacrifice,
and so freedom, and full manhood, and holiness, and
joy eternal, are possible. Six ordained missionaries are
now cultivating this field, and four unmarried women give
themselves to teaching. Two ordained Hindus are as-
sociated with them and, also 39 more are under training
for the ministry. In 52 scliools are 4,324 pupils. The
communicants number 573, and the native contributions
reached ^2,785 in 1892. A college has recently been
established.

Perhaps in no other mission field is it so difficult to set
forth in a brief summary an adequate statement of the
work of the Gospel. The totals for the organizations
named, and for a few others which are bearing a part in
illumining the darkness, are these, approximately : The
European missionaries number 130, with nearly 90 or-
dained natives is efficient co-operation. There are some
50,000 pupils in the mission schools, and 113,000 mem-
bers in the churches. For the adherents 300,000, is a
conservative figure. But to these sums is to be added a
very large increment, resulting from what is accom-
plished by various organizations representing the English
Church, and whose toil is bestowed upon Europeans and
Negroes together. Ten years ago it could be affirmed :
" In all of the British West Indies, with over 1,000,000
inhabitants, 248,000 are regular attendants at the house
of God; about 85,000 are communicants in the various
mission churches, and 78,600 children are being in-
structed in 1,123 day schools (about 45,000 of these in
Jamaica.")

CHAPTER XVI.

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE.

Or perhaps the phrase ** Missions to the Oriental
Churches " would be more fitting, since the Nestorians
are included ; or ** to Western Asia," for though Egypt
is omitted, a portion of Persia is to pass under view ; or
with certain limitations, " to Mohammedan countries."
This undertaking of the modern church is second to
none, either for interest or importance. For it relates
almost wholly to Bible lands, Palestine, Babylon,
Assyria and the rest, and is intimately connected with
Jerusalem, Antioch, Damascus, the Seven Churches of
Asia Minor, and scores of other names, which call
forcibly to mind the godly lives and inspiring deeds of
patriarchs, prophets and apostles, as well as the heavenly
ministry of the Man of Nazareth. Classical history is
also constantly reproduced by the story of missionary
toil, for it relates to Tyre and Troy, Byzantium and
Athens, Cyprus and the Bosphorus, cities which live in
the literature of Greece and Rome, and regions in
which Alexander and the Caesars wrought, at least in
part, the wonders that gave them undying fame. Then,
too, this was the theater in which the Gospel achieved its
earliest victories, from which later it was well-nigh
altogether expelled, and where ever since the prophet of
Arabia has been held in highest honor, while to be a
disciple of Jesus was to be in subjection, most cruel and
degrading servitude, and to court continual insult and

281

282 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

scorn. Therefore, in a peculiar sense, to carry Protestant
Christianity to Western Asia was to avenge a shameful
robbery, was to restore to Christ his own. As no other
mission, this one partakes of the nature of a crusade.

It is also worthy of notice that a peculiar and remark-
able providence is discernible at many points in the
narrative of the re-introduction of the Gospel into lands
long possessed by the Moslem. And beginning as far
back as the day when the fearful catastrophe befell the
church. How strange, but how fortunate beyond ex-
pression, that when the fanatical Arabs made their con-
quests with a fury which nothing could resist, and also
afterwards when the Turks entered into supreme power,
the Christians were not all put to the sword, were not
even compelled to accept the Koran, but the only
demand was for submission to political rule. Within
certain limits each sect was left autonomous, possessed a
separate existence inside the state, its ecclesiastical
officers and religious customs were recognized and pro-
tected by law. And so for twelve centuries a half-dozen
or more of churches, having indeed a faith and practice
at many points exceedingly corrupt, but also retaining
not a few germs of truth and Christian virtue, had lived
on and on, in spite of unspeakable trials and hindrances
of all sorts, and as if preserved of God in waiting to per-
form an essential service, when a brighter day should
dawn. If the fact had been otherwise, if the Crescent
in every particular had triumphed over the Cross, if the
Oriental Churches had been destroyed in form and in
substance, it is impossible to see how the truth as it is in
Jesus could ever again have gained a foothold in the
land of its origin. But not so now. For millions are
found scattered through every province and almost every

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 283

community of the Turkish Empire, who love the Bible,
hold in reverence the name of Christ, and are not with-
out appreciation for better spiritual things, and longings
to possess them. And only let these Christians, or even
a large proportion of them, be turned from their serious
errors and their lamentable shortcomings, let tlie pure
light which once shone be rekindled, and the ancient
flame of love and zeal and devotion, and then the day of
redemption for their Mohammedan masters will be at
hand. Why should the Turks accept such scandalous
perversions and caricatures of Christianity as have been
from the beginning presented to their gaze ? Why
should they not despise and abhor the superstition, a:i;'.
idolatry, and moral corruption, which have universally
been identified with those who claimed to be repre-
sentatives of New Testament piety ? And we cannot but
believe, the signs of the times unite to inspire the
blessed expectation, that it is the glorious mission of the
Oriental Churches, reformed, renewed, refilled with life
divine, to play for the Turkish Empire the part per-
formed on a scale so vast by the Jews in the early spread
of the Gospel.

And further, we must not fail to take note how
curiously it has come to pass that while the movement to
re-evangelize the Orient was in the days of feeble in-
fancy, and the corrupt hierarchy rose up in opposition
and determination to crush it out by violence, countenance
and protection were frequently vouchsafed by Moslem au-
thority, the hand of persecution was stayed, and the right
to live unmolested and to grow was established on firm
foundations. It almost provokes a smile to recall how
when the ecclesiastical authorities resented and resisted
the attempts of American disciples to substitute a pure

284 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

religion for a corrupt one, they were compelled by the
Sultan, universal head of Islam that he is, to refrain
from the use of all carnal weapons and to suffer truth and
righteousness to work their revolutions. And how sur-
prisingly near to the irony of fate will the outcome ap-
proach when, after the irresistible forces resident in New
Testament ideas and convictions and longings have thus
been developed and massed and marshaled, these same
forces shall work mightily and most effectually for the
utter overthrow of the political and religious system
without whose aid. at least so far as human eye can see,
energy and momentum sufficient for so great a task
could never have been gained. But we need not wonder
at this, for ours is a God who is easily able to make the
wrath of man to praise him and the remainder of wrath
to restrain.

For some reason it has happened, and very fortunately,
that among important missionary fields this one has been
left largely, and for the first fifty years almost wholly,
under the care of a single society, the American Board.
But not, however, to be supported and managed by the
Congregationalists alone, for no less than five denomina-
tions were then united under one organization, including
the Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, German Reformed
and Associate Reformed. Moreover, the Turkish mis-
sion is one of the largest anywhere to be found, whether
for the cost of maintenance, the force of laborers en-
gaged, or the number of members gathered into the
churches ; and upon it are expended just about one-third
of the income of one of the foremost of all the socie-
ties, as well as one-third of the energies of all the men
and women employed ; while, curiously, within its limits
are found also one-third of all the communicants, of the

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 385

native Christians, and of the children under instruction
in the schools. Only two missions of the American
Board are older than this one, those in Bombay and
Ceylon, though a party of pioneers for the Gospel was
despatched to the Sandwich Islands almost simultan-
eously with another to Western Asia. When Fisk and
Parsons were set apart to their work in 1818, though
Palestine was named as their destination, and the Jews
were thought of as the objects of their toil, the future
was entirely hidden from their gaze. And when a year
later they set forth, they went out not knowing whither.
The official instructions suggest : *' From the heights of
the Holy Land you will take an extended view of the
wide-spread desolations and variegated scenes presenting
themselves on every side to Christian sensibility ; and
will survey with earnest attention the various tribes and
classes who dwell in that land and in the surrounding
countries." And they were bidden to search with all
diligence to ascertain what good could be done, and by
what means, for Jews, for pagans, for Mohammedans,
for Christians, for people in Palestine, in Egypt, Syria,
Persia, Armenia, and in other countries to which their
inquiries may be extended. For those were primeval
days, the world was largely unknown and inaccessible,
and open fields were few and hard to find. After a halt
at Malta, Smyrna became their headquarters while en-
deavoring to master several Oriental languages, and tours
were made through the ^gean, and to the sites of the
Seven Churches of Asia Minor. In 182 1 Parsons en-
tered Jerusalem, but was not able to make it his abode,
and a few months later his health failing, with his com-
panion voyaged to Egypt where he died. By this time
Beirut had been found to be a most convenient place for

286 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

a central station, and Fisk, with Jonas King for associ-
ate, resorted thither, journeying also here and there,
among the rest over the Lebanon range, and to Jerusa-
lem, if haply they might remain. But in 1825 the
former fell a victim to the climate. The work was taken
up and carried on by Bird and Goodell and Eli Smith,
who fixed themselves in Beirut and at once began to dis-
tribute in several languages the Word of God and other
Christian literature, to open schools, and in every possi-
ble way to do the work of evangelists. Their hearts
were also cheered by the visits of various inquirers, and
by being able to lead a few to embrace the truth. The
Greek Revolution was now in the midst of its course,
and the excitements attending the struggle led to so
many embarrassments and to such perils that in 1828 it
was deemed prudent to retire to Malta, and for two
years the mission was suspended. Six years before a
printing press had been set up in this island by the
Board, and had been kept busy sending forth a variety
of books and tracts in seven languages of the Orient.

During these trying days of watching and waiting for
the pillar of cloud to rise and move forward, it had al-
ready come to pass that in several ways the indication
had been given that the Armenian Christians, numbering
two or three millions, and scattered everywhere through-
out the Turkish Empire, were easily accessible and would
welcome the presentation of a pure Gospel. The capital
alone contained some one hundred and fifty thousand,
and as many Greek Christians, the two together consti-
tuting a third of the entire population. And at a con-
ference held in Malta it was determined to divide the
mission, and while reoccupying Beirut, to send Mr.
Goodell to begin work in Constantinople. Though it

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 287

seemed at the time so insignificant, it was really one of
the great events which occurred when in 1831 this^soli-
tary stranger from America took up his residence in the
famed metropolis of the Ottoman realm. While he was
looking about, laying his plans and setting in operation
various intellectual and spiritual forces, two men, Smith
and Dwight, had started upon a memorable exploring
tour through Asia Minor, as far as to the Nestorians in
northwestern Persia. Nearly a year and a half was con-
sumed, and some twenty-five hundred laborious miles
were gone over, but the undertaking was destined to
bring back a rich return.

Leaving for the moment the further notice of this
movement, which soon proved to be the supreme task on
hand for the society in these parts, let us glance at two
or three other attempts already begun, and for quite ;
period pushed forward with vigor and great expectation,
but ending in discouragement and practical failure.
And first, with regard to the Jews. Concerning the pro-
posed Palestine mission the Prudential Committee
wrote : '^ We owe the Jews a great debt, and they are
to obtain mercy. A disposition manifested lately and
extensively, and recent successes among them, are indi-
cations not to be disregarded. Our minds and hearts
have long been drawn to Palestine in particular." And,
as one suggests in explanation : *' The vision arose of a
reconquered Holy City and a regathering of the chosen
people. They were to go to Zion, behold her battle-
ments, and from her towers get views of the land soon
to be possessed for the Son ! " Again and again the
missionaries entered Jerusalem purposing to remain, but
were compelled to withdraw, and similar efforts were to
continue for yet a decade, when the inevitable was ac-

288 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

cepted, and the field was abandoned. In 1831 MFc
Schauffler was appointed to the Jewish mission, with
headquarters at Constantinople where some seventy-five
thousand Spanish Jews were dwelling, descendants of
the hapless wretches who, expelled from Spain by Isa-
bella the Pious, and refused a refuge by every Christian
country, accepted the Sultan's invitation to partake of
Moslem hospitality. The Hebrews were found stiff-
necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, but never-
theless much important work was done until 1846, espe-
cially in the way of translating and printing, when the
Scottish Free Church entered the field with great zeal
and vigor, and the Board determined to retire. Other
attempts of a like character were made at Smyrna and
Salonica, the last one ending not till 1856.

And also, while in search for the full import of their
high calling, the attention of the society was directed
towards the Greek Church as an encouraging field for
sowing the good seed of the kingdom. The early mis-
sionaries at Malta, and in the ^gean, came across cer-
tain bright and promising youths, who were sent to the
United States to be educated mainly at the expense of
the Board, and took a course of study at Cornwall, Am-
herst and Yale. The Smyrna station was opened in
1826, because this branch of the Oriental Church was
largely represented in that city. Soon after Grecian in-
dependence was established Jonas King was located at
Athens, to open a school and to hold such religious serv-
ices as seemed to be prudent. Several other men soon
followed and began work in Argos, Cyprus, Scio, etc.
But presently, both church and state showed themselves
to be so rigidly intolerant, and put so many hindrances
in the way of preaching and teaching, that by 1844 all

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 289

the missionaries had been transferred to regions more
favorable, except Mr. King, who remained until his
death in 1869. Thus ended all special effort in behalf
of the Greeks. While in the midst of their struggle for
liberty, much enthusiasm had been excited in their be-
half throughout the civilized world, they had eagerly
sought sympathy and assistance from near and from far,
and both had been lavishly bestowed, but when the hated
Turk had been effectually expelled, their friends were
forgotten, and they desired to be left wholly to them-
selves.

We return now to Mr. Goodell and his work among
the Armenians. He was not left long to toil alone.
D wight was already in the field, others were added soon,
Hamlin came in 1839, and ere long a noble company
of saints and heroes were engaged heart and soul. With
regard to the body of Christians for whose spiritual re-
generation they were from henceforth to devote them-
selves, it must suffice to suggest, that like the other cor-
rupt churches of Western Asia, it is of ancient date, its
creed and forms of worship were fixed i-n days of theo-
logical and ecclesiastical corruption, and through all the
revolutions and catastrophes which have since befallen,
have passed unchanged, only lapsing farther and farther
into formalism and moral stupor. They resemble Cath-
olicism in most essential points, though while some of
the branches are in a somewhat better religious case,
others have departed even more seriously from the New
Testament standard. Two facts in particular were of
great value in helping on the introduction of Protestant
Christianity among the Armenians. This people, wher-
ever found, is possessed of unusual intelligence and in-
tellectual vigor, and though the Scriptures were shut up

290 A. HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

from the use of the multitude in a language which only
the ecclesiastics could read or understand, their use had
never been forbidden, and the teachings of prophets,
apostles, and the Son of God, were held in highest rev-
erence. For some years the work of Bible distribution
had been carried on quite extensively, and presently a
translation was made in Armeno-Turkish which many
could read. It was not long before a remarkable spirit
of inquiry appeared, first in Constantinople, and later in
neighboring cities and towns. Sin and salvation, re-
pentance, faith, and the Gospel rule of life, were themes
which interested scores and hundreds, and they began
to call upon the missionaries, and to send inviting them
to come and teach the new and better way. There was
no disposition to attack the old church, or to denounce
its errors and sins, nor was there any thought as yet of
organizing another body of disciples. It was hoped
that the priesthood would be found open to conviction
and would lead in the work of thorough reform. By
1834 Brusa, sixty miles out in Bythynia, was occupied as
a station, and the same year Mr. Johnston ventured off
as far as Trebizond to plant for the kingdom of heaven.
Public services were opened wherever possible, and
schools were started at various points, in most cases with
an attendance remarkably large and earnest. So deep
and general became the religious stir, that not strangely
the church authorities began to take alarm. The people
in large numbers ceased to worship pictures and to pray
to the saints, declined to come to confession, and even
hesitated not to take their superiors to task for departures
from the teachings cf Holy Writ. The Catholic priest-
hood also, and that of the Greek Church as well, were
moved with a great fear. By 1839 a furious crusade was

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 29 1

launched against these obnoxious new practices, and

these heresies so pestiferous.

It is a peculiar feature of Turkish rule that it bestows
a large amount of civil authority upon the leading
official of each recognized Christian sect. Within cer-
tain limits and under certain regulations, he is permitted
to inflict upon offending members of his church the
pains and penalties of the law. After months of distant
ominous mutterings, in 1839 the thunder of denun-
ciation and threatening began to sound and to wax
louder. Through gross misrepresentations, and con-
tinued appeals, the Turkish authorities were prevailed
upon to join in a vigorous attempt to crush out the
evangelical movement with violence, and even to drive
Ihe troublesome missionaries out of the country. The
first onset towards a sharp persecution had already been
made, when suddenly the army of the rebellious pasha
of Egypt began its march northward, another large
force was gathered in the capital and sent forward to
meet the foe, a battle ensued which ended in over-
whelming disaster to the Turks, before the calamitous
news arrived the Sultan was a corpse, and behold, in the
excitement and panic, such trifles as religious affairs
were forgotten, at least for a season. And as so often
happens, instead of harm, great good came to the cause
of reform from the suff"erings and perils endured. In
spite of all, the work rapidly spread and the number of
desciples increased, so that missionaries were located in
Nicomedia, in Adabazar, and in Erzroom. To the
amazement of all, in 1840 the new Sultan pledged him-
self to secure religious liberty to all his subjects. It was
an evil hour for despotism when that utterance was
m.ade, though in all probability it was designed to mean

292 A HUNDRED YEARS OF mSSIONS.

little or nothing. After a few years of quiet, it came to
pass that once more the Armenian ecclesiastics were
filled with alarm over the outlook, and set themselves
with all diligence and fervor to the task of putting an
end forever to the appalling heresy and backsliding.
First came solemn warning and threatening, and after-
wards terrible bulls of anathema and excommunication.
In every community lists of suspected ones were pre-
pared, the bastinado was applied, fines, and imprison-
ment, and banishment were inflicted, business was des-
troyed, all means ot securing a living were cut off, and
to the dead burial was refused. And to crown all, it was
so in those days that whoso claimed to be a Christian,
and did not belong to some one of the various churches
recognized by the government, was an outlaw, pos-
sessed no civil rights whatsoever, might be robbed and
wronged to any extent, and without legal remedy. And
such was the very serious case in which those found
themselves who would live godly in Christ Jesus, and
upon whom fell the blighting curse of the patriarch. In
the presence of these terrors, some paused appalled and
turned back to make their peace with- the priesthood, but
a much larger number stood firm and could not be
shaken. In 1846 the first Protestant church was organ-
ized in Constantinople, twenty-eight years after Fisk and
Parsons were set apart to the Palestine mission, and five
more were formed in months succeeding. And mean-
time the Sultan was petitioned for recognition and pro-
tection. By a good providence, a most timely and
efficient instrumentality was in readiness to further this
indispensable action. For years Great Britain was rep-
resented at the Porte by Sir Stratford Canning, a diplo-
mat of remarkable energy and skill, and withal a devout

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 293

and ardent Christian. He had already secured, in spite
of long hesitation and the profoundest unwillingness, the
abolition of the death penalty for apostasy from the Mos-
lem faith — an achievement thought to approach to the
miraculous — and presently, under his persistent urgency,
a firman was issued setting up in the empire a new and
full-fledged religious body, endowed with legal rights
equal to those of any other. The famous Hatti Humaioun,
Magna Charta of religious liberty for Turkey, was only
the logical conclusion for the several steps which had
preceded, and from first to last only the severest political
pressure would have availed to secure such radical yield-
ing to Occidental ideas and convictions.

Being now delivered from all entangling alliances with
the old church, the way was fairly open for rapid and
solid progress. By 1850 it was found that about a
thousand Christians had separated themselves from their
former ecclesiastical associations, and some three times as
many had really adopted Protestant sentiments. In order
to improve to the full the great opportunity, a large in'
crease was speedily made to the missionary force, for a
a hundred towns were reported as affected by the refor^
mation, and open for evangelizing efforts. Indeed a
wonderful revival now burst forth, and continued for
more than a decade, extending from the Bosphorus to
the Persian frontier, whose equal for length, breadth and
depth has seldom if ever been seen in mission fields.
Within the space of nine years twenty-three churches
were organized in centers of population as important and
as far apart as Aintab, Mosul, Diarbekir, Marsovan,
Arabkir, Tocat, Cesarea, Aleppo, Marash, Sivas, Har-
poot ; with Bitlis, Adrianople, Adana and Van following
not long after. Persecution was a thing largely of the

294 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

past, though at the beginning of work in a new com-
munity mobs, with insults, stoning and other similar
accompaniments, were seldom absent. Of course the
work of translation and printing was pushed forward side
by side with preaching tours and holding of all manner
of public services, and schools of various grades were
certain to follow close upon the heels of the evangelist.
In particular the education of girls was provided for in
boarding schools and later in colleges — a shocking inno-
vation at first to the Oriental mind, but presently ac-
cepted with resignation, and now by Turks, Armenians
and all the rest quite generally adopted. Bebek Sem-
inary, which in a sense led to Robert College, was
founded by Mr. Hamlin in 1840, and since four other
colleges have been established at as many strategic
points. Three theological seminaries are training a
native ministry, whose graduates already approximate to
four hundred. Nor is this all. Almost from the be-
ginning a resolute effort has been maintained looking
towards self-support and self-management on the part of
the churches, and at the earliest possible day. The
people were in desperate poverty, and were thoroughly
accustomed to being held in leading-strings or far worse;
but notwithstanding, they must be trained to independ-
ence and self-reliance, to build their churches and school
houses, to support their pastors, to manage all matters of
organization, discipline, and other ecclesiastical business,
and especially to bear the heavy burdens of spreading
the Gospel throughout the community and the regions
adjacent. By i860 the work had become so mature, and
withal so extensive, that for the sake of convenience and
economy, as well as to increase the feeling of respon-
sibility, the vast field began to be divided, so that the

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 295

one Turkish Mission has become four, called the East-
ern, including the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates ;
the Central, lying about the northeastern corner of the
Mediterranean ; the Western, covering the remainder of
Asia Minor ; and the European, or Bulgarian, stretching
upward towards the Danube. Within each mission is an
Evangelical Union, a body which plans and agitates in
behalf of aggressive work both home and foreign, organ-
izes churches, ordains and dismisses pastors, etc.

The Syrian Mission.

We have already seen that, in looking towards West-
ern Asia as a possible theater for missionary endeavor,
the thoughts and desires of American Christians were
especially fastened upon the Holy Land, and upon the
Jews, whose redemption and return appeared to be at
hand. And that, disappointed in holding Jerusalem as
the central station, as early as 1823 Beirut had been ac-
cepted as a temporary substitute, though a firm footing
was not gained there until after 1830. The languages
required were mastered in due season, the Arabic por-
tion of the Malta printing establishment was removed in
1834 to this rising city upon the eastern Mediterranean
coast, schools were opened for boys, and later for girls
also, while to the northward and southward, as well as
in various villages scattered here and there upon the
flanks of the great Lebanon range, the invitations and
warnings of the Gospel began to be heard. Together
with numerous Armenians, the population includes such
nominally Christian sects as the Greeks, Jacobites and
Maronites, and also such strange religionists as the
Druses and the Nusairiyeh, who though Moslem in name,
are at least semi-pagan in fact. Turkish is the official

296 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

language, but Arabic is widely spoken, and Syriac also.
No sooner had the leaven of truth and righteousness
begun to spread, than the ecclesiastics proceeded to in-
stitute the usual vigorous and violent measures to re-
press the mischief threatened to the old and established
way. While scores and hundreds for conscience's sake
suffered in person and estate, at least one, Asaad
Shidiak, a young educated Maronite, and teacher of
science and theology, was arrested and imprisoned, and
is believed to have been walled up in a convent and left
to starve. Here as in the Armenian mission, there was
no desire to destroy or injure the existing organizations,
but rather to co-operate and aid in their work, only
agitating for needed religious reform. But this could
not be. On account of the dominant bigotry and un-
willingness to accept any changes, fellowship was out of
the question, and after more than two decades of stead-
fast endeavor and patient waiting, separation was forced
upon the Protestants, and in 1848 the first native church
was formed in Beirut with twenty-six members, of whom
ten were Greeks, four were Greek Catholics, five were
Armenians, four were Maronites, three were Druses, one
a Jacobite Syrian. The mission suffered much from the
Egypto-Turkish war, and from various armed strifes be-
tween the several tribes and sects of the region, in par-
ticular during the terrible Druse massacres in i860, but
the Gospel proved itself invincible and clothed with con-
quering might. One after another, companies of dis-
ciples were gathered and joined in Christian fellowship
and toil, in Hasbeiya, Abeih, Sidon, Tripoli, Zahleh,
Hums, etc., etc.

Without doubt, the one greatest achievement made by
the Syrian mission is to be found in the production ol

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 297

the Arabic Bible, upon which Eli Smith expended eight
toilsome years, and Dr. Van Dyck as many more.
When this noble task was completed in 1864, the vol-
ume was printed by the co-operation of the American,
and the British and Foreign Bible Society, and ever
since has been scattered almost literally throughout the
world. It is now selling at the rate of about sixty
thousand copies a year. And how extensive is the pos-
sible circulation may be seen by the statement that, of
the earth's inhabitants not far from seventy millions
speak Arabic, and that this is also the language of the
Koran, the sacred book of nearly two hundred millions.
Who can begin to estimate the moral and spiritual value
of this product of combined scholarship and mechanical
skill in the centuries to come, when the Church of
Christ, clothed with divine might, and with fitting zeal,
enthusiasm and vigor, shall undertake to vanquish Islam
with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God,
everywhere throughout Africa, and Eastern Europe, and
Southern Asia from Arabia to China and Malaysia ! And
next after the Arabic Bible must be put the city of
Beirut, with its manifold institutions and establishments,
as a center and source of power destined marvelously to
mould the entire Orient. '' Within a radius of two miles
are four Christian colleges, seven female seminaries,
sixty boys' day schools, thirty -one girls' schools, seven-
teen printing presses, and four large hospitals. The
boys' and girls' schools belong to the Protestants,
Catholics, Greeks, Moslems and Jews, and sixteen thou-
sand children are under instruction. From the mis-
sion presses alone nearly seven hundred different books
have been issued, and a total of almost five hundred
million pages. The Syrian Protestant College, com-

298 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

billing literary, medical and theological departments,
ranks among the very best to be found on missionary
soil, and gathers its hundreds of students from many
nationalities, and over a vast region.

Though the Syrian mission was planted and long cared
for by the American Board, in 1870 it was transferred to
Presbyterian hands, and without any important change
in the spirit or methods of management, has ever since
been vigorously sustained with money and men, and has
gone steadily on from strength to strength. After
seventy years from the beginning, 96 stations and out-
stations are occupied by 40 missionaries, wives and un-
married women included, and 227 native helpers of all
grades; the 26 churches have a membership of 1,958, to-
gether with about 6,000 adherents; and in the 152
schools of all grades are found 7,929 pupils, and in the
college 237 more.

A large number of societies have entered Palestine in
later years, and in the aggregate with preaching, house-
to-house visiting, schools, hospitals, etc., have accom-
plished much towards the religious transformation of
this, perhaps, most difficult and discouraging of mission
fields. In every town of any considerable size are found
representatives of Protestant Christianity. The English
Church Society is most active, and is able to tabulate the
largest results. Enterirg in 1843, work has been under-
taken in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Nablous, Ramleh, Jaffa,
Gaza, etc. The English Friends also bear a portion of
the burden, as well as the Irish Presbyterians, the Estab-
lished Church of Scotland, the Free Church and several
special, or individual organizations. And besides, char-
acteristically, the Moravians maintain a Leper Hospital
in the Holy City.

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 299

The northern portion of Syria is left almost altogether
to the American Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters),
with Latakia as the central station, a seacoast city of
about 15,000, and with work carried on also at Antioch
and Mersine in Asia Minor. Since 1856 faith and love,
solicitude and untiring effort have been lavished mainly
upon the mysterious Nusairiyeh, with religious beliefs
and ceremonies kept carefully concealed from the uniniti-
ated, who pass for Mohammedans, but rank as well with
pagans. In addition to all the ignorance, superstition,
bigotry and fanaticism of the people, through several
years a succession of most trying fatalities befell from
disease, shipwreck and the like. Nevertheless these men
and women of heroic mould held on without flinching
in the darkness and tempest. A missionary force of 20
is engaged, with 56 native helpers. Work is carried on
at 15 points, the number of churches is 3, of communi
cants 241, of schools 20, and of scholars 618.

The Nestorian Mission.

This interesting field is located a thousand miles east
of Constantinople, in the northwestern corner of Persia,
or if the mountain Nestorians be included, extends also
into Turkey. The people from whom the mission is
named are gathered largely about Lake Oroomiah (Ur-
mia), number some one hundred and fifty thousand, and
are the feeble remnant of a famous Christian church,
which for centuries was unsurpassed for evangelizing
zeal, and carried the Gospel not only through all Central
Asia, but even to far off India, and China. Under
Mohammedan rule but little persecution was suffered,
from some of the caliphs substantial benefits were re-
ceived, but such was the ruthless rigor of the rule of

300 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Timour that, by butchery and enslavement, the organic
zation was brought so near to annihilation as never to
recover. In their researches in 183 1-2 Messrs. Dwight
and Smith visited this region, and three years later, sent
by the American Board, Justin Perkins and wife made
their way across the plains and over the mountains, with
Dr. Grant to follow in a few months. A hearty welcome
was accorded to the strangers by both people and priests,
and no very serious opposition was ever excited. Schools
were made the entering wedge to enlightenment and re-
form, and met with such favor that by the end of a de-
cade the number had risen to seventy. A printing press
was received in 1840. In 1843, with many others like
Coan, Lobdell, Shedd and others, came Fidelia Fiske to
r>ush with such fervor and efficiency the work among
women. So desperate was the general poverty that at
first it was deemed necessary to pay the children from
twelve to twenty-five cents a week for board, to enable
them to attend school, and the entire expense of the
mission in all its departments fell upon the society.
Later however, a more excellent way was discovered, and
a constant drill was instituted looking to self-support.
Ten years passed away before any notable signs of spiri-
tual good appeared, but then began a cheering succession
of blessed seasons of refreshing from on high. Begin-
ning in the schools, the work spread to various commun-
ities, and by the score and hundred young and old to-
gether were brought to genuine repentance and a living
faith in Jesus. The hope was long cherished that the
dead Nestorian Church might be quickened again with
heavenly life, but though the Patriarch and the inferior
clergy seldom displayed open hostility to the mission-
aries and their endeavors, allowed the use of the church

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 3c I

buildings for public services, and in various other ways
displayed a spirit of fraternity, at the end of a genera-
tion the old body was as lifeless as at the beginning.
No disruption occurred, but the two radically distinct
parties gradually drew apart and went each its own way.
Perhaps more trouble resulted from impertinent Roman
Catholic meddlesomeness than from any other cause.

The press was kept busy turning out useful books of
various kinds, and not only such as were religious, but
those for use in the schools, etc. In 1852 was com-
pleted by Mr. Perkins a translation of the Bible into
Syriac. This worthy founder was spared to continue in
the work for thirty-six years, or until 1869, and remained
until the light had been kindled in nearly ninety locali-
ties, and until a hundred native helpers had been trained
and set to work, and upwards of nine hundred had been
helped to enter upon a course of godly living. In 1870
this mission, like the one in Syria, was transferred to the
fostering care of the Presbyterian church. Up to that
date $580,000 had been expended upon it, or at the
average annual rate of $15,470. Since then the pro-
gress, and the territorial enlargement, have been marked.
Such important cities as Teheran, Ispahan, Tabriz and
Salmas have been occupied in the Master's name, and
the Armenians are joined to the Nestorians as objects of
evangelizing effort, with a sharp lookout besides for
effectual means of access to the Moslem population.
The missionary force numbers 372 in all, including 16
ordained and 45 unordained Americans; with 37 or-
dained, 57 licentiate, and 215 other natives. The
churches are 37, with 2,693 members; and the schools
are 108, with 3,504 scholars.

For some twenty-five years representatives of the Eng-

302 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

lish Church Missionary Society have been pioneering in
Persia. Henry Martyn may be termed the first evangel-
ist, who during his stay in this country in 1811 made a
translation of the New Testament. But it was not until
1869 that Dr. Bruce began to lay foundations for the
Gospel by locating himself in Julfa, the Armenian sub-
urb of Ispahan. Bagdad has since been occupied.
Preaching to Moslems is scarcely possible as yet, and the
main reliance is upon medical and school work, and the
sale of Bibles. A force of six men and four women is
toiling heroically and waiting for the dawn of a better
day. The few converts gathered are almost wholly from
the Oriental churches. Some two years since Bishop
Stuart resigned his diocese in New Zealand to devote the
residue of his days to toil in this hitherto barren field.

European Turkey Mission.

Or the mission to the Bulgarians, for such it is in the
main. This people, though possessed of an independent
ecclesiastical existence, yet really constitutes a portion
of the Greek Church, and like all its sister bodies is
filled with serious errors inherited from days of darkness.
The region under view extends from Macedonia to the
Danube, the population is Slavic for the most part, num-
bers some five millions, and for centuries groaned under
Turkish tyranny. The Methodist Episcopal Church was
first in the field, having voted an appropriation for Bul-
garian work as early as 1852, and dispatched two repre-
sentatives in 1857. The object was not to antagonize
and proselyte, but to vitalize and reform the existing or-
ganization. But the hierarchy was joined to its idols,
and was not long in manifesting a decided disposition to
resent and resist with vigor any attempt to improve ujx)U

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 303

the good old ways. From various causes troublous times
were in store. The effect of the Russo-Turkish war
was disastrous in the extreme. And the vicissitudes of
two decades are impressively set forth by this quotation
from official sources : "In 1864 left without a resident
missionary ; in 1871 abandoned ; in 1873 reoccupied ;
broken up in 1877 ; resumed in 1879; and made a mis-
sionary conference in 1892." The work is now carried
on by 4 ordained missionaries and 6 assistants, 14 or-
dained natives and 22 other native helpers, the pupils
number 123, and the church members 135.

In 1858 the American Board began to organize ag-
gressive work among the Bulgarians, and chose as sta-
tions Sophia, Eski Zagra, Philippopolis, Samokov, Mon-
astir, etc. Some fifteen years were required to lay foun-
dations by learning the language, opening schools, pre-
paring a literature, and gaining a knowledge of the
people. During 1875-8 war, and consequent civil com-
motion, made progress impossible, but since peace has
returned the seed sown has steadily grown, and the be-
ginnings of harvest already appear. Robert College on
the Bosphorus has proved a most potent factor in the re-
generation of the country. A theological school has
been established for the training of a native ministry, a
girls' boarding school also, and in 187 1 was completed
the translation of the Bible into the vernacular.

In brief statement, such as these are the incidents and
results of missionary effort in Western Asia containing a
population of about thirty millions, of which three-
fourths are Mohammedans, and the remainder represent
various Christian sects, already sufficiently corrupt, but
still further demoralized by the sufferings endured during

304 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

twelve centuries of Moslem tyranny and hate. The
stupendous task undertaken seventy-five years ago is not
yet by any means accomplished, is only just well begun.
Hitherto toil has been bestowed almost exclusively upon
nominal Christians, and so upon the minority, while the
even more spiritually needy majority has been passed by
and let alone. The campaign thus far carried on is to
be regarded as simply preliminary, a time of forging the
instrumentalities required, of enlisting and drilling the
forces, in preparation for the divine signal to march, and
to fight the decisive battle which shall effectually humble
the Crescent and exalt the Cross, and bring all the lands
of the Bible once more under willing and blessed sub-
jection to the Son. And with this conception of things,
the outcome at this stage of the work is most remarkable,
and not many pages of missionary history can be found
more cheering and fuller of inspiration. It is not in
vain, but rather to sublimest purpose, that millions have
been expended, and hundreds of consecrated and pre-
cious lives. As standing for results of the more palpable
kind, it will be well to scan these figures. The ordained
missionaries sent out from Europe and America and now
in the field number 1 20, and the unordained 230 ; while
side by side with these is an even more important com-
pany of 162 ordained, and about 1,400 unordained na-
tives ; making a total force of 1,912. Then between the
Danube and the Caspian are scattered 195 Protestant
churches with a membership of 18,500. In addition,
1,000 schools are in operation, containing 46,500 pupils
of every grade, of whom 21,057 are girls. In 20 of the
31 colleges, seminaries and boarding schools for girls,
cultured and Christian American women are teaching,
and in 1 1 the same type of womanhood sent from British

MISSIONS IN THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 305

homes. And finally, in spite of the limitless extortions
of the Turks, and the consequent almost universal pov-
erty, the native contributions reach annually the goodly
sum of ^61,000, though the entire Protestant population
does not exceed 60,000.

But statistics set forth not the greatest and the best of
what has been achieved. These general and quite in-
definite statements, which relate to the silent, unseen,
but irresistible sweep of spiritual forces, contain bound-
less significance with reference to years to come. In
every seaport from Trebizond to Jaffa, and in every con-
siderable city of the empire, Christian institutions have
been planted to operate unceasingly as the leaven or the
light. In particular, two mighty centers of intellectual
and religious energy have been created, at Beirut with its
population of almost one hundred thousand, and at Con-
stantinople, the "eye of the East," the metropolis of
the Mohammedan world, hard by the palace of the suc-
cessor of the Prophet, whose word is sacred law to two
hundred millions ! In each of these the two chief Bible
societies of Christendom have established their head-
quarters, and their presses, from which in all directions,
in eleven languages, and as freely as the Koran, are
shipped copies of the Sacred Scriptures by the ton. Yes,
and with the imperial permit stamped upon every title
page. Furthermore, about fifteen hundred different
works, religious, educational, scientific, etc., have been
published and circulated far and wide throughout the
Orient.

And it may be that the indirect and incidental re-
sults of all this multitudinous preaching, and teaching,
and praying, and printing through three-quarters of a
century outmeasure and outweigh all the rest. It is be-

3o6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

yond dispute that the Turkey of to-day is vastly difier-
ent from the Turkey of three gei>erations since. In such
matters even as architecture, and modes of travel, and
transportation. The railroad, the telegraph and news-
paper have at least begun their revolutionary work. The
laws are more liberal and humane, and the administra-
tion of justice is more respectable. Liberty, and whether
applied to thought, conviction, or action, is steadily
coming to have a larger and more definite meaning.
The old churches are reforming themselves at various
points, by spiritualizing the services, by mending the
morals and increasing the intelligence of the clergy;
changing thus not willingly, but because compelled in
order to maintain their place, and on account of the new
and higher standards set up by the Protestants. The
government too, and from the same sort of compulsion,
as far back as 1869 instituted a system of graded schools,
whose number now approximates to twenty thousand. So
the Ottoman Empire from top to bottom, from center to
circumference, has been tremendously wrought upon of
late, and chiefly by the glorious company of missionaries
who have toiled and suffered for the kingdom of heaven's
sake, emulating the example of the wisest and holiest,
who in ancient days, in the same region, devoted them-
selves to the same sacred task of redeeming the world to
righteousness.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE ; KOREA.

" Behold, these shall come from far ; and, lo, these
from the north and from the west ; and these from the
land of Sinim." The last clause of this verse is consid-
ered by most scholars to refer to the Flowery Kingdom
of eastern Asia, that oldest of existing nations, whose his-
tory begins some twenty-two hundred years B. C, fifteen
hundred years before the founding of Rome, seven hun-
dred years before the date of the Exodus, and three hun-
dred years before the call of Abraham. Only two em-
pires, the British and the Russian, surpass in extent of
territory the dominions of the '' Son of Heaven," whose
scepter bears sway over about one-tenth of the habitable
surface of the globe. India is the only country at all ap-
proaching China in point of population. Though the
number of inhabitants is by no means certain, 300,000,-
000 appears to be a minimum estimate, some of the best
authorities add one-third to this, and others deem 500,-
000,000 to be a figure not too high. It is necessary to dis-
tinguish between the Chinese Empire, which includes
Thibet, Mongolia, Manchuria, etc., covering in all
5,000,000 square miles, and China Proper, or the Eigh-
teen Provinces, whose area is but about 1,500,000. Each
province answers somewhat to one of our states, their aver-
age size is over 80,000 square miles, like our Kansas or
Minnesota, or twice the size of Ohio, or Virginia. The
average population is more than 16,000,000, and several

307

3o8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

contain each upwards of 35,000,000 inhabitants. The
Great Plain, situated in the eastern portion of the em-
pire, through which in their lower courses flow the
two mighty streams, the Yellow and the Yang-tse', is
210,000 miles in extent, contains some 175,000,000 of
human beings, or far more than can elsewhere be found
dwelling upon an area of similar size.

India is the only oth-er mission field at all compar-
able with China for either magnitude, or importance, or
difficulty. Almost every feature pertaining to the land
or the people is immense, ponderous, overwhelming,
while much is also strange, unique, and without anal-
ogy elsewhere. Thus there is the Grand Canal six hun-
dred miles in length, and the Great Wall stretching over
mountain and plain for fifteen hundred miles, and esti-
mated to contain material sufficient to girdle the earth
along the equator with a wall twelve feet high and
four feet thick. Then everywhere, upon water as well
as land, are met such swarms, and hordes, and myriads
of the queer creatures, our antipodes in almost all their
ideas and customs. The language is the most difficult
to master, and appears to have been fashioned for the
express purpose of effectually preventing communication
between this and other nations. Instead of an alpha-
bet we find twenty-five thousand hieroglyphic, or ideo-
graphic characters, each constituting a word. In fact,
one needs to master three languages. Thus there is the
Wen-li for exclusive literary use, to be seen and not
heard, not to be spoken but only to be read ; and the
easy Wen-li, similar to the other, only simpler, less
stilted; and the mandarin, or court language, and spoken
extensively in the northern and central provinces. Al-
though ability to read, that is to pronounce the words,

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 309

is a very common attainment in China, it is yet asserted
by competent authority that the number of those who can
understand what they read is not more than ten per cent,
of the men, and one per cent, of the women. Still
further, in the empire of the Celestials three religions
dwell harmoniously side by side, and not seldom in the
same mind and heart. The writings of Confucius are the
source of supply for the rulers and the literati, with his
five relations leading to the five supreme duties.
Taouism is the second form of religious faith and prac-
tice, originating with Lao-tse about the same time as the
former, or in the century in which the Jews returned
from Babylon. Not satisfied with the conclusions of
either or both of these philosophers, in the year 65 A.
D. Emperor Ming-ti sent an embassy to India in search
of something better, and thus Buddhism made its ad-
vent into China. The real religion of the Chinese is to
be found in the worship of ancestors, in the rites per-
formed before the tablet at the family shrine, and ad-
dressed to the ^' two living divinities." Every April re-
turns the annual general celebration of these rites. The
members of the family assemble from near and from far ;
at the graves libations are poured out and paper is
burned, and then follows a social feast attended with
certain petitions and prostrations. There is no religious
caste, and no ruling priesthood. The average Chinese
mind is filled to overflowing with the grossest of super-
stitions relating to luck, the dragon and the tiger, the
two principles Yang and Yin, the Fung-shui, or wind-
and-water. Gongs are in great use to frighten away the
multitude of ghosts.

With three religions already on hand, when Moham-
medanism arose, and its adherents entered the empire to

3IO A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

make proselytes, so hospitably were they received, and
so excellent did their message sound that a strong and
lasting foothold was gained, and 30,000,000 are said to
be found to-day among the inhabitants 0/ the western
provinces. Four separate attempts have been made to
introduce the Gospel. First came the Nestorians early
in the sixth century, entering from the west and pushing
resolutely across the vast spaces of desert and lofty
mountain ranges. Little is known in detail of their
achievements, but they appear to have made a multitude
of disciples, and then to have lost their influence. No
visible trace of their presence remains except the famous
tablet at Si-ngan in Shansi, bearing the date 781 A. D.,
and in Chinese and Syriac characters telling something
of the triumphs of the Cross which thereabouts had been
wrought. Roman Catholic missionaries first made their
appearance in the Flowery Land in the thirteenth cen-
tury, entering also from the west and by the overland
route. Quite an impression was made, and then set in a
decline. The burning zeal of Xavier had been turned
towards this populous region as a fit field for his labors,
but death defeated his plans for evangelization. In 1580
Valignani, the Superior of Jesuit missions in the far
East, selected Matteo Ricci and others, and sent them
from Macao to push their way into the interior, to make
to the perishing the proclamation of the way of life.
They were clad in the garb of Buddhist priests, though
later this was exchanged for the dress of the literati.
Baffled again and again, but never despairing, after
twenty-one years he was able to gain a lodgment in
Peking, and soon success began to crown his efforts.
For a hundred and fifty years great activity was dis-
played and converts were made by the hundred thou-

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 3 11

sand. But the brethren, some of whom were Bene-
dictines and Franciscans as well as Jesuits, fell to
quarreling among themselves, and appealed too often to
the Pope; moreover, on all occasions carried themselves
too haughtily, and were persistent meddlers in matters
political. And so after a hundred and fifty years an
edict of expulsion was issued and a long period of severe
persecution ensued. This occurred in 1736, and ever
since Catholics have been feared and hated.

The fact should always be borne in mind that the ex-
clusiveness of the Chinese, their determined policy of
absolute non-intercourse with all other peoples, and
especially with Occidentals, does not originate wholly in
total depravity, or even in insane conceit, coupled with
folly equally insane, and was adopted by the rulers only
in times comparatively modern. The land is isolated by
nature, is fenced in on every side by barriers, the ocean,
the mountains, the deserts, which a few generations ago
were practically impassable. But when after the doubling
of the Cape of Good Hope intercourse was first opened
with Europeans, the ports were open, no gi*eat prejudice
was displayed, and trade was carried on with little
difficulty. The case was somewhat changed after the
conquest of the empire by the Manchus in 1644. But
the outrageous behavior of the traders, who had no sort
of regard for the rights of others, who scrupled not to
deal with this highly civilized people as they would with
savage African negroes, or American aborigines, must be
regarded as the chief cause of the barriers which were
afterwards reared. The Chinese who resorted to the
Philippines to trade were treated by the Spaniards with
peculiar severity. And moreover it was known what had
befallen other nations in Southern Asia who had allowed

312 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Europeans to land and open factories. It was largely
through mortal fear of invasion and conquest that it was
decided at length to close and bar every gate. The
Portuguese had taken forcible possession of the peninsula
on which Macao stands, but a wall was built across the
narrow neck that joined it to the mainland, and a guard
was kept to prevent egress or entrance. All trade with
foreigners was to be confined strictly to Canton, and to
a tract of fifteen acres outside the walls. Certain * ' hong-"
merchants were constituted the sole intermediaries be-
tween the empire and the whole world. Only through
these thirteen could any sort of communication be had
with the emperor, or with any official of the government.
It was a capital offence to teach the language to any
''outside barbarian," alias, ''foreign devil." Of
course, the attempt was absurd, preposterous, and from
the beginning was doomed to failure. It was the des-
perate expedient of conscious weakness, combined with
amazing assumption of superiority. All British com-
mercial transactions were then in the hands of the East
India Company.

Such was the situation when this century opened; mis-
sionary zeal was rapidly rising and spreading, and the
gaze of many earnest-hearted ones was fixed on the dis-
tant lands of darkness, with longings to bear thither the
blessed light of life. The London Society was the first
one to move China-ward, and selected Robert Morrison
to be its pioneer, knowing full well the magnitude of the
undertaking. T1t« instructions given him at his depart-
ure help us to perceive how purely it was an act of faith.
The directors say : " We trust that no objection will be
made to your continuing in Canton till you have accom-
plished your great object of acquiring the language;

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 313

when this is done you may probably soon afterwards be-
gin to turn this attainment into a direction which may
be of extensive use to the world ; perhaps you may have
the honor of forming a Chinese dictionary, more com-
prehensive and correct than any preceding one, or the
still greater honor of translating the sacred Scriptures
into a language spoken by a third of the human race."
Applying to the East India Company for a passage in one
of its ships, he was refused, as Carey had been a few
years before, and it became necessary to voyage via New
York. And there it was, that after all the business ar-
rangements had been completed, and he was about to
leave the shipping office, the agent wheeled in his chair
and with a look and tone of superior wisdom remarked :
•^So then, Mr. Morrison, you really expect to make an
impression on the idolatry of the great Chinese Em-
pire?" And quickly replied with emphasis this first
missionary to the Middle Kingdom, with its hundreds of
millions, and utterly closed against all foreigners : " No,
sir, but I expect that God will." Nine months later he
arrived at his destination and sat down before the huge
fortress apparently so impregnable. Macao was his first
halting place, and as soon as possible he secured a Chi-
naman to teach him the language, and gave himself to
the arduous task with all his might. Such was his eag-
erness to make progress that he is said to have begun
almost at once to offer up his secret prayers in broken
Chinese. This city was so intensely and intolerantly
Catholic that prudence seemed to require that the object
of his coming should be concealed, and that so far as
possible his presence should not be known. Disguised
in Chinese clothing he also kept carefully within doors,
only when his health suffered seriously from such con-

314 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

finement did he venture forth, and then only at night to
the fields outside the city with Chinese attendants.
Later Canton became his headquarters, and he soon
found several good friends among the foreign residents,
and a few from among the Company's servants. So ex-
cellent were hrs linguistic abilities, so intense was his
application, and so rare were men possessed of a knowl-
edge of the language sufficiently accurate and ample,
that at the end of two years his services were sought by
the Company as translator at a salary of $2,500, and
later increased to $6,000. And thus it curiously came
to pass, as in Carey's case, that the corporation whose
spirit was so utterly sordid and antichristian, which had
refused its consent to his coming, from this time forward
to the end of his life enabled him to remain upon Chi-
nese soil, and supplied in abundance the means to carry
on his work.

Only a portion of his time being required for the per
formance of his official duties, Morrison was able to un-
dertake the translation of the Scriptures. Ere long the
Acts were ready for printing, Luke was next completed,
and by 18 13 the entire New Testament was issued from
the press, the British and Foreign Bible Society dona-
ting large sums in aid of the momentous undertaking.
Five years later the Bible was published complete in
Chinese. During the same period the same busy pen
was actively engaged in the preparation of both a gram-
mar and a dictionary. The latter was a great work in
six volumes, and was so highly esteemed that the entire
expense of prinfing, some $60,000, was met by the
Company. But nevertheless, the calling of the author
was not that of a man of letters. From first to last, in
heart and soul, it was the missionary who thus expended

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREAo 315

his energies, and all was done for the kingdom's sake,
that the Gospel naight be introduced into China. There-
fore, though public services were impossible even in
Macao, regularly for more than a quarter of a century,
with the greatest circumspection, in the privacy of his
own room, and behind bolted doors, a few, only two or
three usually, were met for prayer and instruction. Six
years passed without a companion or helper in burden-
bearing, and then the London Society sent out Mr.
Milne as associate. Landing at Macao, in a few days
the governor issued a peremptory order for him to leave
the city. Repairing to Canton, it soon became apparent
that there was no room for him in China, and for reasons
soon to be mentioned, he took his departure for other
countries, carrying with him for circulation two thousand
New Testaments, five thousand copies of a catechism
which Morrison had prepared, and ten thousand copies
of a tract, all in Chinese. Meantime an imperial edict
had been issued strictly forbidding the printing of reli-
gious books, and to the pagan manifesto was added a
*' Christian " one, from the chief ecclesiastic at Macao,
hurling anathemas against whoso should hold intercourse
with the heretic Morrison, or receive his pestiferous lit-
erature, or supply him with Chinese works. He was
also sharply reproved and warned by the Company that
he was committing a grave offence by publishing the
New Testament and religious tracts, and to the serious
jeopardizing of British trade in the empire. But as an
offset, as a grain of comfort in the midst of sore tribula-
tion, in 18 14 he was permitted to baptize his first con-
vert, Tsai A-ko, who lived four years to honor his pro-
fession. Many days of wearisome waiting, however,
were yet in store.

5l6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

** O, Rock, Rock, when wilt thou open! " had been

the exclamation of Valignani almost two hundred and
fifty years before, and the wall of exclusion was even
more impassable than then. Those who would enter
must still remain outside, and wait, and pray. Deter-
mined not to despair or give over, and reduced to such
extremities, while pushing to the utmost the important
preparatory work of translating and printing, it seemed
possible to bestow evangelizing labor upon certain natives
to be found outside the bounds of the empire, and thus
through them, in spite of edicts, introduce Christian
teachers and books among the teeming millions. For it
had been observed that a great tide of emigration was
setting towards the south, and thousands of Chinamen
were already thickly scattered throughout the Malay
Peninsula and the Dutch East Indies. And so, curiously
it came to pass that for some thirty years almost all efforts
to redeem the Celestial Empire were put forth hundreds
of miles away. It was to further this design that Mr.
Milne turned his back upon Canton, and left Morrison
once more alone. After a long tour of exploration, he
finally fixed himself in Malacca, and with others who
joined him began to preach and teach the things of the
kingdom. Among the rest, a school was opened which
developed into the famous Anglo-Chinese College, de-
signed to impart to missionaries and others a knowledge
of Chinese, and to the natives a knowledge of English.
Penang and Singapore were occupied by several socie-
ties, Java also and Siam, the London Society, the Ameri-
can Board and the Presbyterians, being especially active.
The task was an uphill one; it was entered upon merely
as a make-shift, and nothing very substantial or enduring
ever came of it. These results may be named. Between

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 317

18 1 5 and 1842, when this phase of the work came almost
wholly to an end, it is estimated by Mr. Medhurst, an
active participant, that ten thousand children passed
through the various schools, about one hundred were
baptized, and several native preachers were trained,
among them Liang A-fah, baptized by Milne in 1816,
who till his death in 1855 was exceedingly useful.

A second temporary and provisional line of endeavor
was resorted to during these discouraging times of trying
to reach China while standing on the outside and off at
arm's length. A noble and gifted company of men like
Morrison, Milne, Medhurst, Gutzlaff and others were
6usy with pen and press furnishing a supply of religious
literature, as well as other useful reading matter. And
in the thirties the peculiar project was formed of defying
to a certain extent the laws which forbade any inter-
course with the people or touching of the sacred soil,
and of making expeditions up and down the coast, so
indented with bays, harbors and wide-mouthed streams,
carrying a liberal supply of books, tracts, etc., landing
wherever possible, and giving to all who would receive.
The scheme evidently belongs to the order of the for-
lorn hope, and the last resort in the day of extremity,
but was more rational in this case because it was under-
stood to be a national trait to hold all printed paper in
highest esteem. Gutzlaff made three entensive voyages
in successive years, and Medhurst, with a companion,
one covering several months. In the main the inhabi-
tants were found to be good-natured and approachable,
instead of misanthropic and hostile as had been antici-
pated, though the mandarins usually ordered them off
sternly, though without violence, or much insult even.
So hopeful for a season was the outlook in this direction,

3l8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

that Olyphant and Co., American merchants of Canton,
devout Christians and friends of missions in addition,
purchased a vessel to be used in these colportage expe-
ditions. Besides, Liang A-fah, who had returned from
the Straits' Settlements, and in 1824 had been ordained
by Morrison, the first Chinaman to enter the Christian
ministry, invaded Canton with religious books which he
distributed in great numbers, especially to students who
came to the city to take their examinations. But the
authorities were soon in pursuit of him and his assistants
on suspicion that they were in treasonable intercourse
and league with the outside barbarians plotting the de-
struction of the empire ; two were seized and severely
beaten, and he was compelled to flee precipitately for his
life. In all some fifty thousand volumes were placed in
Celestial hands along the coast, and about twice as many
in and around Canton and Macao. The only traceable
results are found in the fact that a multitude were helped
to a better feeling towards foreigners, having discovered
that the " foreign devil " was not nearly so black as he
had been painted, and over against this, the other fact
that it appeared to be certain that, if missionaries could
only enter the country, they would be fairly well re-
ceived. And further, the publishing of Gutzlaff's Voy-
ages excited wide-spread interest and enthusiasm.

Recourse was had to yet another indirect mode of
operations, which almost at once showed itself to be an
auxiliary to the Gospel most potent and of the greatest
value, has continued to the present, and constitutes one
of the marked features of evangelizing work in China.
Gutzlaff was possessed of some knowledge of the heal-
ing art, and had ministered to many sick while playing
the part of colporteur. But years before, in 1820, Mor-

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 3I9

rison with Dr. Livingstone, one of the Company's serv-
ants, had begun to dispense medicines at Macao, and in
1827 Dr. Colledge had opened a dispensary at his own
expense, though later the foreign population had con-
tributed $6,500 to sustain it. However, the real father
of medical missions is Dr. Peter Parker, who in 1836
opened a hospital in Canton for the gratuitous treatment
of the suffering, with opthalmic and surgical cases as
specialties. A great sensation was soon produced by his
successful operations and remarkable cures. Howqua,
the leading hong-merchant, hearing of the wonder, gave
the free use of his building for years, though character-
istically, suspecting that back of the seeming benevolence
some selfish plot was concealed, he sent one of his clerks
to keep an open eye on the proceedings. A medical
society was formed to agitate for hospitals in other cities,
and a few years later, in England and America, Dr. Parker
made many and effectual appeals for the training and
sending out of missionaries able to minister to the bodies
of men whom they would rescue from the plague of sin.
As might have been expected, and especially in China
where so much needed, this instrumentality has been
found scarcely second to any, for disarming bitter preju-
dice, and exciting confidence and esteem. No man can
tell what the Gospel owes to the distinguished services
performed in behalf of the wife of Li Hung Chang by
Drs. Mackenzie and Howard. In addition to numerous
hospitals, dispensaries, and medical schools, gifted physi-
cians like Hobson and Kerr have written some fifty
medical volumes for the instruction of the common
people in matters of health, and whose circulation has
been very great. At no other point can foreigners so
easily and effectually demonstrate their superiority to the

320 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

very wisest of the high-minded sons of Confucius. The
eminent statesman just named is said to have expressed
himself to this effect : " We Chinese think we can take
care of our souls well enough ; but evidently you can
take care of our bodies better than we, so send us medi-
cal missionaries in abundance." And wealthy officials
and merchants gladly contributed large sums every year
to sustain this Good Samaritan feature of Christian effort.
Korea is said to have been opened to Europeans by the
point of the lancet, but as for China, to accomplish this
herculean task it was necessary to employ the terrible
edge of the sword. The barriers would yield to nothing
>ss violent than the savage and brutal assault of cannon.
Morrison had toiled on and on, year after year, with
none at hand to sympathize or help. Well may Dr.
Milne say that **the patience that refuses to be con-
quered, the diligence that never tires, the caution that
hides, and the studious habit that spontaneously seeks
retirement, were best adapted for the first Protestant
missionary to China." It was not until 1839 that Bridg-
man, of the American Board, came to his assistance, to
be joined four years later by Wells Williams. And in
1834 he died, worn out with toil and hope deferred. In
all the twenty-seven years of maintaining the siege of the
stronghold of Satan, he had never been able to hold a
public service, and had seen but three or four touched by
the renewing power of the Spirit. But he died in full
faith nevertheless. These words are found in the last
letter he ever wrote : ** I wait patiently the events to be
developed in the course of divine providence. The
Lord reigneth. If the command of God our Saviour
prosper in China, all will be well. Other matters are
comparatively of small importance." Eight years more

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 32!

were destined to elapse, and then the great wall of ex-
clusion was to begin to crumble and fall. And the
famous " Opium War " with Great Britain was to supply
the shock required. Though the common idea is very
different, the truth appears clearly to be, that the de-
termination to continue the opium trade was in no
proper sense the cause, was at the most but the occasion,
of the bloody strife, was only the accidental spark that
fired the magazine. For the cause we must go further
back, and take a broader view of the situation, and it is
to be found in the outrageous restrictions put upon com-
merce by the Chinese authorities, prompted in part by
fear, and also in no small degree by a limitless conceit
and arrogance, and these leading to intolerable methods
of dealing with foreigners. There is but little to be said
in commendation of the designs and disposition of
either party. To aggravate the trouble, it was Occi-
dental face to face with Oriental, with no language by
which to communicate, so that endless misunderstandings
could not but occur. Here, therefore, was one of the
offences which must needs come, when the stronger and
the weaker fall into conflict, though wo be to him
through whom the offence cometh. The childish policy
of communicating with the outside world only by means
of petitions offered through the hong-merchants, utterly
shut out from access to the central authorities, and com-
pelled to take the attitude of a suppliant inferior, was
bad enough from the beginning, but might possibly
answer for a commercial corporation. But when in 1834
the East India Company was set aside, and the British
Government took the direction of trade into its own
hands, of course such servility and cringing were out
of the question. Lord Napier was despatched as com*

322 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

missioner, and proceeded straight to Canton, and sent
his credentials to the viceroy direct. They were re-
turned unopened, with a rebuke to his presumption, and
an order to return to Macao ** immediately with speed."
Various other outrages succeeded, culminating in 1839
in the command to deliver up all the opium in the hands
of English dealers, and the imprisonment of the entire
European population for days, with great indignities at-
tending. Naturally war ensued, ending in 1842 in the
treaty of Nanking, which opened five ports of the
empire to residence and trade, and gave to Great
Britain, besides, the island of Hongkong for a pos-
session. Opium was admitted free, but only as all com-
merce was free. Here ends the first stage of missionary
history in China.

Unfortunate and lamentable though it be, and scan-
.lalous in some of its phases, this transaction is to be
classed among the great events in the spread of the
kingdom of heaven among the nations. The wrath of
man, and his folly, and his weakness also, played a lead-
ing part, but the Lord made them effectually to praise
Him. And to China, though she knew it not, and
neither yet is the fact discerned, accrued the lion's
share of the priceless benefits resulting from the destruc-
tive clash of arms. The deepest humiliation and
chagrin, with the addition of ^21,000,000 in cash, were
not too great a price to pay. Up to this time about
sixty missionaries had been sent out by the various
churches of Christendom for the evangelization of China,
though only three or four had found it profitable to work
and wait upon the immediate borders of the land. The
remainder, at a distance, had been making ready for the
'ulness of times to dawn. Only the London Society and

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 323

the x\nierican Board were represented in the field at the
very gates of the fortress. But no sooner had the treaty
been signed and the six cities, Canton, Hongkong,
Amoy, Foochovv, Ningpo and Shanghai, been thrown
open, than a sudden and extensive enlargement was
made. Almost at once the American Episcopalians,
Baptists, and Presbyterians, came flocking in from
Singapore and the region around about, where they had
been sojourning, and many other societies hastened
forward their quota of laborers to occupy the long
coveted region, six of them in a single year, so that by
1848 instead of two organizations represented in the
Flowery Kingdom, there were fifteen, with yet more
soon to follow. The statistics for 1853 showed the
presence of 118 missionaries, of whom 69 were ordained
and 40 were women, with 29 native helpers. But at the
same date, though forty-six years had elapsed since
Morrison arrived, the churches numbered only 5 with
351 members, and the schools 32 with 812 pupils.
Upon no other country had so much toil been expended
for so long a period, with such slight return in converts
gathered. Entering now the treaty ports, access was
had to some two or three millions, but with minds and
hearts fast closed by the increased prejudice and ill-will
begotten by the recent war. To remove these barriers,
hospitals and dispensaries were opened, schools were
established, and in every possible way by the perform-
ance of kind deeds, the persistent effort was made to
prove that these messengers of the Gospel came unself-
ishly, and as the truest friends.

But even yet we find ourselves in the midst of days
primeval. Only six tiny points can be touched, while
the vast empire is still closed against all foreigners.

324 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

The government is as determined as ever to stand aloof
from the nations, in complacent and haughty self-satis-
faction. England, America, and all the rest, continue
to be but " foreign devils," and " barbarians," whom to
abuse, and insult, and hold in contempt, is a virtue.
And in particular, this capital point the rulers stead-
fastly refused to yield. Foreign ambassadors should not
be allowed a residence in Peking and have direct and
immediate access to the emperor, Son of Heaven that he
was. Another war was required, which was but the
concluding chapter to the first, before overweening
pride would give way. And so, as in no other region the
truth has sought to enter, in a sense it was necessary for
the evangelist to wait until the soldier had done his pre-
paratory work. Only by carnal weapons could the val-
leys be exalted and the mountains be made low, and in
the desert a highway for our God be made straight.
The conflict ensued in 1857-60, which ended forever the
preposterous assumptions of the Manchu dynasty, and
whose final act occurred in the capture of Peking by
the combined forces of Great Britain and France, with
other nations as interested spectators, and the looting
and the burning of the magnificent Summer Palace of
the emperor, as one of the most impressive incidents.
The treaty of Tien-tsin settled it that ten more cities
should be opened to trade, that the whole empire
should be open for missionaries to pursue their be-
neficent calling, while their converts should be free
from persecution, and that foreign ministers might
take up their abode in the neighborhood of the im-
perial palace. However, it was yet thirteen years,
and not till 1873, that under the persistent efforts
of the representatives of Russia, the United States

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 3^5

Great Britain, France and the Netherlands, an audi-
ence was allowed with the entire omission of the
kotow J or prostration in the presence of His Majesty ;
the last remnant on his part of a claim to essential su-
periority, and on their part of the admission that they
were but vassals. These were indeed days of severe
chastening for China. For during the same period
(1850-64) was raging the terrible Tai-ping rebellion,
which covered a large portion of the Eighteen Provinces
with conflagration and wholesale slaughter. It is esti-
mated that not less than twenty millions of human beings
fell victims to this political upheaval. In the later stages
of the struggle with anarchy the European powers lent
their aid, with '' Chinese " Gordon and his "ever vic-
torious army," as a most important factor. Then it was
that this most thorough-going English Christian soldier
fought side by side with Li Hung Chang, the future fore-
most of Chinese statesmen, and a warm friendship sprung
up between them.

The radical revolution which had been wrought in the
empire is well set forth in the statement of Wells Wil-
liams that, when in 1833 with two other Americans he
arrived at Canton, they were reported to the leading
hong-merchant as foreign devils who had come to live
under his tutelage ; and in 1874 as secretary to the
American embassy at Peking, he accompanied the min-
ister when in person he presented his letters of credence
to the Emperor Tungchi, and was received on a footing
of perfect equality ! But this marvel did not occur until
sixty-seven years after Morrison reached China, and forty
years after he had gone to his reward. So far as treaties
and diplomacy could avail, the way was now open for
the messengers of peace to go up and down, here and

326 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

there, wheresoever they would, proclaiming the glad tid«
ings to the myriads of the needy. But other barriers re-
mained, far less visible and tangible, but far more per-
plexing and difficult to remove. Such as the snares set
by their false forms of faith, certain national peculiarities,
lying, gambling, the extensive use of opium, as well as
the bad feeling excited by the military operations. Nor
was the fault altogether on their side. Mr. Medhurst
tells of a tract written against him, which will help us to
see how Occidentals appear in the eyes of the Celestials.
The foreigners had introduced a poisonous drug, for their
own benefit and the injury of others, and so were defi-
cient in benevolence ; " sending their armies and fleets
to rob other nations, they could make no pretentions to
rectitude ; allowing men and women to mix in society
and walk arm in arm through the streets, they showed
that they had not the least sense of propriety; and in
rejecting the doctrines of the ancient kings they were far
from displaying wisdom ; indeed truth was the only
quality to which they could lay the least claim. Defi-
cient therefore in four out of the five cardinal virtues,
how could they expect to renovate others? Then,
while foreigners lavished money circulating books, they
made no scruple of trampling printed paper under foot,
by which they showed their disrespect for the inventors
of letters. Further, these would-be exhorters of the
world were themselves deficient in filial piety, forgetting
their parents as soon as dead, putting them off in deal
coffins only an inch thick, and never so much as once
sacrificing to their manes ^ or burning the smallest trifle
of gilt paper for their support in the future world.
Lastly, they allowed the rich and noble to enter office
without passing through any literary examinations, and

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 327

did not throw open the road to advancement to the
poorest and meanest in the land. From all these it ap-
peared that foreigners were inferior to Chinese, and not
fit to instruct them."

We have now reached the third stage of missionary
history in China, and enter the modern period, which
covers only about thirty years, and brings us down to the
present. The churches of Christendom began at once to
improve the enlarged opportunity by increasing the force
in the field, so that presently all the larger denomina-
tions were represented in the empire, and within a
decade the number of societies engaged had risen to
nearly thirty. The bulk of the missions, however, were
in the coast region, while the vast interior was left well-
nigh desolate. It was therefore a great event in the
evangelization of China, when in 1853 the Rev. J. Hud-
son Taylor appeared upon the scene, and when, about
ten years after, organized by his tireless energy and flam-
ing zeal, the China Inland Society sent forward its first
missionary. As the name declares, its object was to
push in towards the central and western portions of the
empire where the spiritual destitution was most appall-
ing, and there is to be no rest day or night, until in
every part of every province the sound of the Gospel is
heard. The income reaches nearly ^175,000, the work
is undenominational, the number of workers was 592 at
the close of 1893, of whom 361 came from England, 42
from North America, 34 from Australia, and the rest
from Scandinavian countries. The number of baptisms
is 5,627 from the beginning, and the communicants are
now 4,206. In 1863 the English Presbyterians entered
Formosa, an island some eighty miles off the coast from
Foochow, the Presbyterians of Canada following nine

328 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

years later, with the heroic genius Mackay as pioneer,
and since then 60 churches have been gathered with a
membership of 3,500. In 1867 the Irish Presbyterians
began a gospel campaign in Manchuria, pushing inland
from Newchwang to Moukden, and the Scottish United
Presbyterians coming after as allies in 1873, the two have
toiled together in harmony and with such vigor that up-
wards of 2,000 have embraced Christianity. John Ross
is eminent among laborers in this field. In 1870 the
London Society sent James Gilmour to begin his won-
derful campaign of endurance and achievement in Mon-
golia, which lasted till his death a year or two since.
No doubt, Shanghai is the center of evangelizing force.
Nine societies maintain missions here, but far more im-
portant than all these combined in the vast range of its
gracious influences, is the Presbyterian publishing estab-
lishment, with its list of over seven hundred works in
the native language. From its presses have been issued
of school and text books, 130 volumes; of medical
books, 23 ; dictionaries and grammars, 40 ; Scripture
commentaries, 25 ; hymn books, 21 ; religious books
and tracts, 160 ; miscellaneous, 400. And every variety
of edition of the Bible is included. The Methodists
have similar publication houses at Foochow and Kiu-
kiang. Tien-tsin is another center of power, and within
the walls of Peking several strong missions are main-
tained.

But space is lacking to tell a tithe of the story of the
marvels that have been wrought, and practically within a
period of twenty years. It was only two decades ago
that the time of blossoms and fruitage began to appear.
Hitherto the statistics from the hard field had been dis-
couraging, but in 1877 the 625 stations and out-stations

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 329

could report 13,515 church members, and 73 ordained
native pastors, with 519 other preachers. And from that
date the gains have been steady in every department of
the work, and at a rate constantly increasing. We have
already seen how indispensable a part in the opening of
China was played by the destructive operations of foreign
navies and armies. But another infliction even more
terrible and destructive to life, by the God of missions
was overruled to the effectual opening of closed and
stony hearts, and so the great furtherance of the Gospel.
The reference is to the famine of 1877-8, said to be the
worst of any recorded in history, and whose victims are
estimated at from ten to thirteen millions. The Great
Plain, so densely populated, was the theater of this ap-
palling calamity, with the three provinces, Shansi,
Shensi, and Shantung, as the chief sufferers, and the
cause was found in the almost entire absence of rain
during four successive years. With the missionaries in
the forefront as leaders and actors, upwards of ^400,000
were raised and distributed to the starving by foreigners,
of whom some seventy contributed their time and
strength, and four fell a sacrifice to exposure and over-
work. The Government was astonished and deeply im-
pressed by this unheard of example of pure benevo-
lence, and expressed its appreciation in various effective
ways. And as for the people, at first suspicious of sinis-
ter designs on the part of the distributors, they refused
the offered charity, and were ready to mob and maltreat
their would-be benefactors, and the utmost of wisdom,
and caution, and tact were required to overcome the in-
veterate dislike and fear. Finally, however, confidence
and even gratitude were won, though in Kaifung, the
capital of Honan, to the very last the *' foreign devils'*

33© A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

were forbidden to remain with their food and other sup-
plies, or even to carry on their relief work in the en-
virons ! From this time forward throughout most of the
large region so sorely afflicted there was found a marked
increase of readiness to receive visits from Americans
and Europeans, and to hear the Gospel from their lips,
while converts also began rapidly to multiply, the scores
becoming hundreds, and the hundreds swelling to tens
of thousands. Among the curious results of Chinese
evangelization this statement may well stand. Since the
Baptist mission was started at Swatow 1,670 persons have
been received to membership, of whom nearly half were
baptized after they were fifty years of age, 361 after they
were sixty, 98 after they were seventy, 4 after passing
their eightieth birthday.

A few additional statements are in order concerning
medical missions, to which China owes so much. No
less than 61 hospitals and 44 dispensaries have been es-
tablished and are maintained by Christian hands. Sev-
eral of these are built on an extensive scale, and are
supplied with all modern appliances, as well as with the
best of medical and surgical skill. Swatow is said to
have the largest of mission hospitals. In Tien-tsin, the
wife of Li Hung Chang having been brought back to
health from the borders of death, through treatment by
Christian physicians from the West, this eminent states-
man and his government contributed large sums to secure
and carry on a hospital, dispensary and medical school.
In fact in all the cities of the empire where such under-
takings are found, a large part of the running expenses are
met by the gifts of Chinese officials and merchants, and of
foreign residents. In the various fields of the world are
found 350 medical missionaries, China alone has 126,

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 331

of whom 26 are women. Down to the close of 1889 the
total number of physicians who, for the kingdom's sake,
had gone to the Middle Kingdom was 200.

In judging of the general statistics which help to an
estimate of the labor performed, and the results achieved,
in this immense and most difficult field, it must not be
forgotten that forty-eight years were required to gather
500 souls into church membership, and that it is only
thirty-three years since the empire was thrown open, or
just a single generation. In 1877 the communicants
numbered 13,035, and in three years more had increased
to 20,000. At this last date there were 73 ordained and
511 unordained natives employed in Christian work.
When the great missionary conference met in Shanghai
in 1890 the statistical showing was full of good cheer,
since it clearly demonstrated that the day of small things
was about over, that the harvest season had already be-
gun. Forty societies were represented by 1,296 workers,
of whom 589 were men, and 316 were unmarried
women. Besides, 211 ordained and 1,266 unordained
Chinese were rendering efficient service. The entire
missionary force reported was 2,953, o^ 1,296 Europeans,
and 1,657 natives. Of the 522 organized churches 94
were fully self-supporting. The membership was 37,287,
and the contributions of the native Christians for the
year preceding amounted to ^36,885. Besides this, the
Roman Catholics are active and successful in the empire,
with their 25 bishoprics, and claim a round 1,000,000,
not including Thibet, Mongolia and Manchuria. Were
the figures brought down to the present year, it cannot
be doubted that they would prove even more encourag-
ing. The latest reports indicate that the number of
European missionaries is nearly 1,650, of whom about

332 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

650 are men, that the churches have a membership ap-
proaching near to 50,000, while something like 100,000
more have turned from idolatry, and have put themselves
within reach of the transforming influences of the Gos-
pel. So, well may the Church thank God and take
courage, and press forward with zeal and full assurance
of faith. The huge mass moves but slowly thus far, but
is now fairly under way, and the momentum will pres-
ently become irresistible. The Word and the Spirit are
mighty, and the divine promise cannot fail.

Korea.

For Korea, called by its inhabitants Cho-sen, the land
of Morning Calm, a few paragraphs must suffice. For,
as yet, it can scarcely be called open to foreigners, mis-
sionaries have but recently entered, and only the slight-
est beginnings have been made. Besides, many state-
ments made concerning China and Japan will apply here
almost equally well. The kingdom consists of a pen-
insula, lying between the Yellow Sea upon the west, and
Japan Sea upon the east. The side which joins it to the
continent borders upon China and the Russian pos-
sessions. Formerly a neutral strip some sixty miles by
three hundred separated Korea from the Celestial Em-
pire. The area is something over 80,000 square miles,
and the population is perhaps 12,000,000, though the
figures are but estimates. The statement is not much
amiss that the Koreans are a sort of cross between the
Chinese and the Japanese, since at various important
points they strikingly resemble the former nation, and at
others are closely akin to the latter. Nevertheless in
many respects they differ radically from both. For one
thing, the language is quite distinct. But written

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 333

Korean is employed only by the common people, while
for all official and literary purposes, and by the upper
classes, the Chinese is used exclusively. The Chinese
Classics supply the substance of education. Politically,
this peninsula may be termed independent, and at divers
times invaders have been driven out. And yet from
time immemorial China has asserted, and Korea has
accepted, a suzerainty. As late as 1882 the claims of
the over-lord were restated and reconceded. Every new
ruler, and every heir-apparent, seeks investiture from the
emperor, while year by year embassies are despatched to
Peking to pay tribute and homage. Buddhism was
formerly the ruling religion, but in comparatively recent
times has been well-nigh displaced by the teachings of
Confucius. The worship of ancestors is universal, and
finds no rival among the people, except in the general
and ever-present dread of evil spirits, and in the frequent
performance of ceremonies, wherewith to circumvent
their malevolent designs, and neutralize their power to
do harm.

Some centuries since, Korea imitated her sister nations
on either side in closing her ports against all comers, and
isolating herself to the utmost ; fully determined to
travel her own way, and neither to take, nor receive, in
the least degree, the knowledge or wealth to be derived
from commerce, or from other forms of intercourse with
mankind. Fear of encroachment increased almost to
frenzy when, about i860, Japan had been overawed by
the visits of several fleets from the West, the allies had
captured Peking, and had sacked and burned the Sum-
mer Palace, and Russia had seized the opportunity to lay
hands upon vast territories in the region of the Amoor.
From this time forward the Korean Gates to the north-

334 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

west were watched most carefully both day and night,
while strong guards patrolled every exposed point along
the coast. Whoever approached was ordered off, and
no communication was held with the feared and hated
strangers from over the sea. The French had a serious
grievance, and came with a fleet to obtain redress, but
failed utterly. Twice over, the United States sent ships
of war on a similar errand, and though some hard and
successful fighting was done, no impression was made.
Then Japan endeavored to secure a treaty which should
be of advantage to both nations, and at length succeeded.
And finally, in 1882, through the good offices of Li
Hung Chang, a treaty was made with the United States,
three ports were thrown open to commerce, and a minis-
ter-resident was received by the king, and permitted to
reside at Seoul, the capital. About two years later oc-
curred the genesis of Protestant missions.

But, more than a hundred years ago Christianity en-
tered Korea. Through intercourse with Roman Catholic
priests, while on embassies to Peking, some well-to-do
Koreans had become acquainted with the teachings of
the Gospel, received the truth as it was apprehended,
and returning home, began zealously to teach and prac-
tice the same. The new religion seemed to meet a felt
want, and spread rapidly. A few foreigners stole in at
the imminent risk of their lives to impart instruction
concerning doctrine and the forms of worship. But
presently the number of the converts became so large as
to attract the attention of the jealous government, and
stern measures of repression were instituted. During
the first half of the century seasons of persecution alter-
nated with seasons of quiet and growth. But in the
thirties the Korean mission came into the hands of

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 335

French ecclesiastics, who began to push measures of
propagandism. More than a dozen priests, in disguise,
had stolen across the boundaries, and were creeping
here and there about the country, diffusing the leaven of
faith and devotion. In 1864 a change of rulers occur-
red, and the new king speedily made a savage onslaught
on all the Christians he could find. Bishop Berneux,
and eight other Frenchmen, were seized and put to death,
with insult, torture, and multilation, and whole com-
munities died by the sword. It cannot but be counted
most singular, that in each of the three hermit nations
the evangelizing attempts of the Papacy ran so similar a
course, and reached a conclusion so almost exactly the
same.

It came to pass that in 1873 Rev. John Ross, sent out
by the Scottish United Presbyterians, began work in
Manchuria, and later paid a visit to the Korean Gates,
where every year a great fair was held, and to which the
people came in great numbers to trade with the Chinese.
He found them exceedingly shy, suspicious, uncommuni-
cative, and unapproachable. But returning a year later,
the situation was so changed that he was able to hire a
Korean to return with him to Moukden, and to teach
him the language. As soon as possible he set about
translating the Bible, and when the Gospel of Luke was
in readiness, proceeded to put it in print, with the assist-
ance of a second native from the peninsula. Later still,
several were found willing to serve as colporteurs in the
valleys among their countrymen, Mr. Ross supplying
portions of the New Testament in Korean, and Bibles in
Chinese. Such was the readiness to receive these books,
and with such earnest, ingenuous purpose were they put
to use, that messages began to come beseeching teachers

336 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

and baptism. Several times he tried to pass the barriers
upon the boundaries, but was stopped and turned back
by the guards. However, eighty-five received baptism
at his hands, and afterwards when missionaries were tol-
erated in the country, whole neighborhoods were found
professing faith in Jesus Christ, and waiting to learn the
way more perfectly. The American Presbyterians were
the first to move in the matter of sending the Gospel
message to Korea direct. In 1884 Dr. H. N. Allen was
transferred from China to Seoul, while Mr. Underwood
came a little after. And it was in the very nick of time.
For in the autumn of that year a serious riot occurred in
the capital, in which several men of high rank were
slain, or covered with wounds. Among them was Prince
Min Yong Ik, a nephew to the king, dreadfully cut, and
At the point of death from loss of blood. Dr. Allen was
called in and such was his surgical skill and success,
that the court, and the whole city was filled with amaze-
ment. He was looked upon as an angel from heaven,
and there was no limit to his popularity. He became
court physician, and a royal hospital was built at great
cost, with him in sole charge. When an embassy was
sent to Washington, this Christian physician accom-
panied it as foreign secretary, his place in the hospital
being filled by another missionary, while a third. Miss
Ellers, M. D., was appointed physician to the queen.
Naturally, ever since, the medical side of missionary ef-
fort has been put prominently forward in Korea.

In 1885 the American Methodists appeared upon the
scene in Seoul, in the persons of Mr. Appenzeller and
Dr. Scranton. The first opened a school which later be-
came known as Yi Wha, which being interpreted, signi-
fies ** For the Training of Useful Men," and the latter

THE CHINESE EMPIRE; KOREA. 337

opened a hospital^ afterwards honored by receiving from
the king a signboard reading thus : " Wide Spread Re-
lief Hospital." And such a conception has been gained
of the value of Western education, Christianity included,
that three young men from the ranks of the distinguished
nobility have been sent to the Methodist college in
Shanghai. In 1887 this same denomination opened a
printing establishment, which issues works in three lan-
guages, Korean, Chinese, and English. In 1888 mis-
sionaries entered this field representing two organizations
in Canada. The year after, the Presbyterians of Aus-
tralia joined their forces with those already at work, the
Propagation Society (S. P. G.) came the same year,
while in 1892 the Presbyterian Church, South, completed
the list of societies thus far engaged in Korea. The
three Presbyterian bodies have formed a council, for
united effort, and looking to the existence of but one
mission church of that order in the country. The last
to enter was assigned to two provinces in the southwest,
Chulla and Chung Chong. Eight organizations are now
engaged in seeking the redemption of Korea with a total
of upwards of seventy missionaries. The first baptism
did not occur until 1886, a native church was formed
soon after, while the number of converts to date is less
than two hundred. The Catholics, however, have some
twenty priests and fifteen thousand adherents. As recently
as 1888 edicts were issued forbidding the public preach-
ing or teaching of Christianity, and outside of the
treaty limits the presence of foreigners is tolerated only
through the non-action of the authorities. Though the
people seem quite willing to listen and learn, the greatest
prudence and caution are constantly required. Tours
of observation can be made without serious opposition.

338 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

with occasional opportunities for conversation, and Chris-
tian literature can be distributed, while every day the
schools, hospitals, and dispensaries, lend most efficient
aid.

Since the foregoing paragraphs were written the aston-
ishing events of the Chino-Japanese war have occurred,
with Korea as the prime occasion ; and rumors are just
now changing into official statements that a treaty has
been signed, which among other things secures inde-
pendence to Korea, though no doubt, with the influence
of Japan supreme. To each one of the three nations
concerned changes of greatest moment cannot but ensue,
and especially to China and Korea, including boundless
confusion, strife and overturning. But whatever else
may happen, ideas and forces inseparably conjoined with
Christianity and the civilization of the West are certain
to enter and bear sway. Nor can it scarcely be other-
wise than that the call for evangelists and teachers will
soon sound out with such a divine imperative that the
churches of Christendom will not dare to disregard,
while the kingdom of heaven will begin to go forward
in Eastern Asia with most surprising velocity and mo-
mentum.

CHAPTER XVIIL

JAPAN.

Among other names are Dai Nippon, The Sunrise
Kingdom, and The Land of Great Peace. This prodigy
among modern empires is composed of islands number-
ing some three or four thousand, though only four are of
any considerable size. The Kurile Islands are included
at the north, and the Loo Choo Islands at the south.
The entire area is estimated at about 160,000 square
miles. The main portion of the mikado's domain
stretches along the eastern coast of Asia in the shape of
a bent bow, at one extremity lying at no great distance
from Korea, and at the other approaching to within five
miles of the Russian possessions. The principal island
has a length of about eight hundred miles, and contains
nearly half of the superficies of the empire. The sur-
face is largely broken and mountainous, with scarcely
more than twelve per cent, susceptible of cultivation.
Twenty live, and numerous extinct, volcanoes proclaim
the geological origin of the country, while earthquakes
are frequent and destructive. Fuji-san, the loftiest of
summits, which rises to an elevation of 12,365 feet, is a
volcanic cone, and constitutes the crowning glory of the
islands, as well as the pride of every Japanese. As to
climate, general statements are likely to mislead, since
the northern and southern limits are separated by some-
thing like thirty degrees of latitude, or two thousand
miles, and approach, the one to arctic, and the other to

.339

340 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

tropical conditions. And further, down the western
shores, through the Japan and Yellow Seas, sweeps con-
tinually an ocean current from the frozen regions, while
up the eastern coast sets, summer and winter, the Kuro
SiwOy Black Current, the Asiatic counterpart of our Gulf
Stream, performing the double office of heat-bearer, and
moisture-carrier. At certain seasons floods, typhoons,
and tidal waves, are liable to work wide-spread disaster.
According to Mr. Griffis, '' Nature's glory outshines her
temporary gloom, and in the presence of her cheering
smiles the past terrors are soon forgotten. The pomp of
vegetation, the splendor of the landscape, and the
heavenly gentleness of air and climate come to soothe
and make vivacious the spirits of man. The seasons
come and go with well-nigh perfect regularity ; the
climate at times reaches the perfection of that in a tem-
perate zone — not too sultry in summer, nor too raw in
winter. The majority of the inhabitants rarely see ice
over an inch thick, or snow more than twenty-four hours
old." Rice is the principal food product, though the
ocean and the streams are most bountifully stocked with
fish of excellent quality.

The population of Japan somewhat exceeds 40,000,000,
making an average of nearly two hundred and sixty to
the square mile, though in many sections the density is
very much greater. The inhabitants are thought to have
entered the islands originally both from the north and
the south, and as well, to some extent, from China and
Korea. The Ainos at the north are reckoned as aborigi-
nes, whose numbers are but small. Two races are easily
discernible, distinguished by marked differences of feat-
ure and mental quality, the one constituting the upper,
and the other the lower classes. The people in general,

JAPAN. 341

the average of the nation, possess not a few attractive
and lovable traits. They are quick-witted, inquisitive,
ready to learn, but also mercurial to the borders of fickle-
ness and beyond; are enthusiastic, and polite in the ex-
treme, and hence have been dubbed '' the French of the
Orient." Respect for parents is universal, the family is
the great thing, the individual is almost nothing by com-
parison. The last named conviction, or instinct, will ex-
plain the meaning back of the astounding reply to a
question, *'I have lived in this locality, or I have wrought
at this trade, for four hundred years ! " Reverence for
superiors is also bred in the Japanese bone, especially for
the heaven-descended emperor, while patriotism is often
a passion, a frenzy. Death is despised on comparatively
slight occasion. Of course, we should not be surprised
to find that much brass, iron and even clay are found
mingled with the gold of mental and moral constitution.
Among national sins may be set down lying and licen-
tiousness. Where Christianity has not brought reform,
truth for truth's sake is a phrase without force or mean-
ing, while concubinage was provided for in the legal and
social regi?ne, prostitution was legalized, and without
any shock to the moral sense, girls were sold by their
parents to lives of shame and accepted the dreadful fate
meekly, and as a matter of course. Life too was held
in light esteem, and assassination and suicide frequently
rose to the rank of virtues. Further, with all its delicacy
and refinement of make, the Japanese mind is affirmed
to have no capacity for musical performance and appre-
ciation, at least, according to occidental standards.

Japan, like China her neighbor, is possessed of, not
one religion, but several. The oldest is the Shinto,
which is thought to be scarcely worthy to be called a

342 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

religion, consisting in ancient times of not much more
than a form of nature worship and reverence for an-
cestors, and now being mainly an affair of the state, and
employed to regulate the relations between the emperor
and his subjects. Then the ideas of Confucius are
widely afloat, through the prevalence of Chinese as the
language of literature, and the use of the Chinese
Classics in the schools of the empire. Buddhism was
introduced from China in 552 A. D., was some six
centuries in fighting its way to universal acceptance, and
then passed through a period of development, receiving
extensive and radical modifications. How prominent is
the place held by these pagan faiths in the daily life of
the people, is seen by the fact that the Shinto shrines
number 196,242, and of Buddhist temples there are 108,-
109, with nearly 70,000 priests, so that there is a temple
or shrine to about every 130 inhabitants.

The Japanese claim at least twenty-six centuries of
existence for their empire, and the career of this nation
can be traced quite well, far back towards the Christian
era. For many generations the islands were divided be-
tween various tribes or clans, independent, and often at
war, but finally all were brought under the sway of a
single ruler. Then little by little grew up a military
class, which also gradually became subject to a hereditary
commander-in-chief (shogun, the tycoon of later times),
while the other generals became princes (daimios) in
possession of castles and extensive landed estates, each
also keeping about him a body of armed retainers
(samurai), who owed him fealty and loyal service in the
field, and for whose support he provided. In other
words, a complete feudal system was established, which
•tasted for seven hundred years and until its overthrow in

JAPAN. 343

1868. And finally this head of the army became the
de facto ruler of the state, holding his court in Yedo
(the Tokyo of the present day), while the mikado, the
ruler de jure, dwelling in far off Kyoto, held only the
ignoble semblance of dominion.

The Land of the Rising Sun was first heard of by the
western world when, late in the eleventh century Marco
Polo, returning from a long residence at the court of
Kublai Khan, told incredible stories about a certain
Zipangu. It was in search of this same land of wonders
that, two hundred years later, Columbus set out, and for
which at his first landing he inquired of the natives.
The Portuguese, following in the track of Vasco da
Gama, were the first of Europeans to reach the islands
by sea. Mendez Pinto was the pioneer, and others of
his countrymen came after to trade. Christianity was in-
troduced in 1549. Xavier, in southern India, had met
a Japanese, who on account of crime had fled his
country, but later had repented and embraced the Gospel,
and asked him if the people would be likely to receive
the Gospel. The reply was notable and wondrously sig-
nificant : '* His people would not immediately assent
to what might be said to them, but they would investi-
gate what I might affirm respecting religion by a multi-
tude of questions, and above all by observing whether
my conduct agreed with my words. This done, the
king, the nobility and the adult population would flock
to Christ, being a nation which always follows reason as
a guide." Such a nation must not be passed by, and in
due season the Apostle of the Indies landed in Japan,
with two other Jesuits and two natives, Xavier did not
undertake to master the language, but spoke through in-
terpreters, and had a varied experience. All available

344 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

expedients were resorted to, and when the aspect of
poverty, austerity, and asceticism, failed to attract and
excited only contempt, he turned to the other extreme
of ecclesiastical pomp and display, and made costly
presents to the emperor and princes. After some suc-
cesses, and various failures, he took his departure, leaving
the work in other hands, and sending in additional
laborers. By the end of five years considerable progress
had been made, and before the first generation had
passed the churches numbered two hundred, and the
converts a hundred and fifty thousand. In 1583 four
nobles were sent on a visit to the Pope, kissed his feet,
had an audience with Philip II., and returning brought
with them seventeen more Jesuits. Spanish missionaries
also flocked in from the Philippines, friars of the
Dominican and Augustan orders, full of faith and zeal.
Oratory was fervid concerning the Cross of redemption,
and was reinforced by generous measures of images,
pictures, gorgeous altars, and all such paraphernalia as
Rome knows so well how to employ, whereby the im-
aginative and impressible multitudes were stirred to the
depths, were led away captive to the charmer. More-
over, divers miracles were conveniently wrought just
then, while all along, the transition from Buddhism to
Catholicism — systems which have so much in common —
was made extremely easy. As the result, several princes,
large numbers of the high officials and nobility, officers
in the army and navy, gave in their allegiance to the
Church. These were the palmy days of the Inquisition,
and in Japan carnal weapons were wielded in the service
of the Lord. Certain daimios ordered their retainers to
be baptized, with banishment from the realm as the hard
alternative. And the neophytes were incited to acts of

JAPAN. 345

violence against the Buddhists. The character of the
bonzes was attacked, and shrines were desecrated and
destroyed. One perfervid noble razed many temples, and
burned three thousand monasteries. It is estimated that
the number of converts at one time reached a million,
and it seemed certain that Japan would become wholly
Christian.

But, alas, such prosperity was the ruin of the mission,
and the empire received a shock from which it did not
recover for centuries. First the Jesuits and the friars fell
out, and fell to anathematizing and excommunicating
each other. It was Portuguese against Spaniard, and
Spaniard against Portuguese. Then, to make confusion
worse confounded, the Protestant Dutch and English be-
gan to resort to the islands for trade, and proceeded to
malign the whole race of Catholics as rogues and schem-
ing villains, who were plotting mischief for the Japanese.
Suspicion was aroused, and fear, and dislike. The
Jesuits and friars were ordered to take their departure,
and public services ceased to be held. Later a plot was
discovered to betray the country to Europeans and perse-
cution ensued against the Christians, and finally was
much intensified in severity when under severe sufferings
they rose in rebellion. Thousands were put to death
with the accompaniment of savage tortures, borne as
steadfastly and heroically as any inflicted since the days
of the apostles, and thousands more fled to other
countries. All Europeans were banished, and with them
from henceforth there should be no intercourse whatso-
ever. Only a handful of Dutch might remain to trade ;
cooped in a tiny island, Deshima, might send out one
ship-load a year, but must not bring in any Bibles or
Christian books, and must not buy, or take any books

34^ A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

on Japanese history. No natives must leave the country
on any consideration, and to make the attempt was
death. All ships of any considerable size were to be de-
stroyed and no more were to be built. It was also death,
and deepest disgrace besides, to teach or to practise Chris-
tianity. Edicts against this *' evil sect" were posted
everywhere throughout the empire, in every city and vil-
lage, on every highway, by the ferries and in the moun-
tains, and reading in this vigorous fashion : *' So long
as the sun shall warm the earth, let no Christian be so
bold as to come to Japan ; and let all know that the king
of Spain himself, or the Christian's God [thought to
mean the Pope] or the great God of all, if he violate this
command, shall pay for it with his head ! " And for
more than two centuries the attempt was kept up to stamp
out utterly the least traces of the Gospel. The name of
Jesus was held in the utmost loathing and abhorrence.
And Japan, like her sister nations, China and Korea,
closed and barred her gates.

The isolation, however, was not perfect. All along,
some intercourse was maintained with her near neigh-
bors to the west. And in numerous ways also the Dutch,
though so carefully cabined, cribbed, confined, and most
jealously watched in the neighborhood of Nagasaki in
the extreme south, yet in various most efficacious ways
served as a connecting link, a medium of communication
between the would-be hermit empire and " outside
barbarians." Numerous news items crept in through
this channel, and much valuable information was picked
up in Deshima and diffused far and wide. We now ap-
proach the period when under very different and far bet-
ter auspices. Christian missions were destined to have a
re-beginning upon Japanese soil. For in the meantime

JAPAN. 347

Protestant powers had come to the front in commerce,
colonization and conquest. In 1842, China had been
compelled by British cannon to open certain of her ports
to trade, and in considerable numbers the heralds of the
cross were flocking thither. A most remarkable provi-
dential preparation for the opening of Japan was also in
progress. And it was meet that from first to last x\merica
should play a leading part in the sublime transaction,
and further, that the achievement should not be made
through a bloody conflict with fleets and armies, but
should stand in history among the glorious victories of
peace. Only a few years before, in our amazing national
movement westward, the Pacific coast had been reached,
and by the discovery of gold, through the consequent
vast influx of population had suddenly risen to impor-
tance. Thus the United States was brought face to face
with Japan, and stood as her nearest neighbor to the
east, with only the ocean as a convenient highway be-
tween. In those same days, helped by a liberal treaty
with Russia, the northern Pacific was thronged with
whalers, whose crews, every now and then shipwrecked
upon the rock-bound coast of the Sunrise Kingdom, had
suffered shameful maltreatment. Moreover, it hap-
pened not seldom that unfortunates from the islands,
caught upon the open sea in a storm, had been driven
along the Black Current to the opposite shores, or had
been picked up midway, and the effort had been made,
though frequently repulsed with rudeness, to return the
waifs in safety to their friends.

As a result of these and other similar facts, early in
the fifties the idea began to dawn upon the minds of
various persons that the opening of Japan was a con-
summation devoutly to be wished, and that the govern-

348 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

men! should make a bloodless but resolute attempt to
secure sailors' rights in this quarter of the globe, as well
as to secure an enlargement to American commerce.
And in due season, the powers that be reached the same
conclusion, and preparations began to be made for an ex-
pedition which should lack nothing of appliances, or
methods of procedure calculated to ensure success.
Fortunately the command was given to Commodore M.
C. Perry, a brother of the hero of Lake Erie, who
devoted months to careful working out of details for a
scheme which should not only inspire respect, and
kindle a healthy fear to the borders to terror, but in equal
measure should convince the Japanese that the dominant
feeling was friendly, and that they had much to gain
from intercourse with the western world. July 8th,
1853, is a notable date, for it was then that Perry and
his fleet anchored in Yedo Bay. He had four ships of
war, two of them steam frigates, whose like in those
waters had never been seen, and when propelled by
some invisible force they moved about with flame and
clouds of smoke, the paralyzed natives could only ex-
plain the phenomenon by supposing the barbarians had
caught, and tamed, and harnessed, a volcano for the
task. A request for an interview was sent on shore, and
in reply came an order to hoist anchor at once and be
off. Not so, but he must communicate, for he bore a
message to the Emperor from the august President of
the United States. Then he must transfer himself to
Nagasaki, and speak through the Dutch, for the laws for-
bade all direct intercourse. He would not budge, and
so much the worse for the laws. He would wait three
days for a reply, and they must look well to the conse-
quences of refusal. A veritable panic ensued in the

JAPAN. 349

breasts of both people and rulers. After much solemn
conference in Yedo, it was finally concluded to meet the
terrible Unknown (for as yet no Japanese eyes had been
allowed to look upon Perry), but on his vessel. No, he
must be allowed to land, and confer upon their own soil.
At length every essential point was yielded, and with
great ceremony, and show of dignity, a meeting was
accorded with a high official representing the crown,
the gold box containing the letter from the President,
and the articles of the treaty desired, was given and re-
reived, notice was served that an answer would be
called for at some time during the next year, and a few
days later the fleet steamed away and disappeared.
After about six months had passed once more the * ' black
ships" hove in sight from the headlands, but this time
there were nine instead of four, and anchor was cast
much further up the bay than on the former occasion,
indeed almost in sight of the capital city. After divers
delays, and subterfuges, and protests of non-possumus^
on their part ; and on his, sturdy persistence relating to
certain particulars, it was agreed that American sailors
should be well treated, that at two ports a consul might
reside, and supplies of coal, water, provisions, etc.,
might be procured, and though just now trade could
not be allowed, perhaps in a few years the privilege
would be granted. Then followed an exchange of pres-
ents on a grand scale. Among Perry's were a telegraph
complete, a locomotive with rails and cars, both of
which were put in order and set to work, with many
other products of modern invention and skill. The
transaction ended with feasting on ship and on shore,
the freest of social intercourse, and abundance of good
feeling all around.

35© A HUNDRED YEARS OF LIISSIONS.

It may seem that the outcome was but slight for so
much endeavor, but it is to be remembered that all the
rest to be related resulted easily and naturally from the
achievement then made. Other nations followed and
secured similar concessions, and before i860 the urgency
of our ambassador had gained the consent of the govern-
ment to the opening of six ports, in which, and for
twenty-five miles about them, foreigners might trade and
travel. In 1861 an embassy was sent on a visit to the
United States, and the year following another to Europe.
True, the Japanese were still suspicious, and fearful that
the irresistible barbarians had political designs which
would work mortal mischief. A little later a tide of re-
actionary feeling set in, some foreigners were assassinated,
and even vessels of war were fired upon from the shore,
though with such a taste of vengeance inflicted in re-
turn that never since has occidental wrath been thus
provoked. And what were the churches of Christendom
doing meanwhile for the evangelization of the Land of
the Rising Sun, which had now become in some measure
accessible ? Many an eye had long been watching for
the hour to strike. Especially had the missionaries in
China been scanning the political signs of the times.
As early as 1855 an attempt was made to reach Japan
from Shanghai, but passage could not be secured. In
1859 however Messrs. Liggins and Williams, represent-
ing the American Episcopalians, landed in Nagasaki, and
began work for the kingdom of heaven. And before the
end of the year to the same city, bent on the same
heavenly errand, came three more, Messrs. Verbeck,
Brown and Simmons, sent by the American (Dutch) Re-
formed Church, while a few weeks before Messrs. Hep-
burn and Nevius, American Presbyterians, in the Lord's

JAPAN. 351

name had entered Kanagawa on the Bay of Jedo, the
scene of Perry's exploit, to remove afterwards across to
Yokohama. The American Baptists followed in i860,
and for almost a decade no more societies joined in the
work. Among the names mentioned are some of the in-
tellectual and spiritual giants of this part of the mission
field. But their sphere of toil was exceedingly narrow,
and limited on every side. With no especial ill-treat-
ment, though sometimes their lives were in danger from
fanatical assassins, no public services could be held, the
people were afraid of them, and spies were continually
on their track. They could only quietly prepare, busy
themselves laying foundations, and in patience possess
their souls. They could study the difficult language,
circulate Christian literature in Chinese which all the
upper classes could read, let themselves be seen as much
as possible in public, and by numberless kind deeds and
acts of mercy finally compel the confidence and esteem
of the sensible and candid. And presently they were in
demand as teachers of English and other secular studies,
even the government resorting to them for assistance in
many things. They were able at length satisfactorily to
demonstrate that they were actually what they seemed to
be, not emissaries in disguise of any foreign power, with
political designs back of religious performances, after the
fashion of the Jesuits with whom Japan had had such
sorry experience.

It is evident that as yet Japan is not open to the world,
except in a very partial and superficial way. Foreign
nations had done their part, but vastly more that was
just as essential remained to be performed within the na-
tion itself. And verily changes and overturnings, most
sweeping and astounding, were at the door. Here was

352 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

a case where things ** sacred " must needs wait on things
" secular." The longings of patriots, and the schemes
of statesmen, must precede and prepare the way for the
heavenly offices of the herald of the cross. And various
mighty influences were at work within the Japanese body
politic, which were destined marvellously to give free
course to the Gospel. An intellectual ferment had been
in progress for years. Through the Dutch traders,
through European sailors shipwrecked upon the coast,
and through Japanese sailors who, in spite of themselves,
had been driven to foreign climes, many an exciting ac-
count of lands beyond sea had entered the islands, and
been eagerly passed from lip to lip, whereby the curios-
ity of not a few, and hunger for knowledge had been
quickened. Scores of young fellows like Neesima,
bright, ambitious, and plucky, had been running away
of late to see the wide world. And intercourse with
foreigners in the treaty ports had added fuel to the flame.
But most of all, the spirit of patriotism was finding a
new voice, and was nerving many an arm to strike. As
we have seen, the military head of the nation had long
since usurped supreme authority, while the power of the
emperor was but shadow and sham. Dissatisfaction has
long been growing, and only a fitting occasion was want-
ing to produce an outbreak to humble the shogun, and
to exalt the mikado to his proper place as the sacred
head of the people. And the results of the coming of
Perry's fleet supplied the required stimulus. The Ameri-
can commodore, in his excusable ignorance, supposed he
was dealing directly with the emperor ; whereas it was
only his chief general, and also he that signed the treaty,
as well as all similar engagements soon after entered into
with other western nations. This last act of aggression

JAPAN. 353

was worst of all, and was, in short, intolerable. Against
the law, he had presumed to communicate with the ab-
horred barbarians, had entered into league with them,
had given them liberty to land, and dwell, and travel,
and trade ! After years of growing excitement the crisis
befell in 1868. A variety of cross purposes, schemes
and counter-schemes, were curiously combined in the
bitter and bloody strife which ensued, and raged for ten
or fifteen years. The noisiest cry was reactionary in its
aims and demanded, "Restore the emperor," and,
** Expel the barbarians." With the first half in mind,
the shogun was soon persuaded to abdicate, and turn
over all his power and glory to the mikado, though a
number of the daimios, whose political fortunes were in-
volved with his, resorted to arms.

Fortunately for Japan, there was a body of influential
statesmen of a make much more liberal and more mod-
ern. And, though for years their startling project was
concealed, it meant nothing less than the overthrow of
feudalism in all its forms and phases, a cordial welcome
to foreigners, and the adoption of all good ideas, cus-
toms, and institutions, to be found in the western world.
Where in all history can such sublime daring and ven-
turesomeness be found ? And such was their skill and
energy, and such the wave of generous enthusiasm which
now swept over the whole land, that the bulk of the
daimios, great and small, voluntarily resigned all claim
to their castles and landed estates, and to the fealty of
their retainers, and from being rulers of the people, con-
sented to take the place of mere citizens ! Where else
can there be found a case of such self-sacrifice, and self-
abnegation on so vast a scale ? Among the rest, some
two millions of samurai, soldiers and literati, who had

354 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

always lived upon the bounty of their over-lords, were
suddenly left without occupation, or means of support.
And finally, to cap the climax of innovation and depart-
ure from the sacred precedents of centuries, the mikado
conveniently dying just them, his youthful successor
came out from the closest seclusion in which his lofty
kind had always hid themselves from the gaze of the
vulgar, appeared in public like common clay, and from
hallowed Kyoto, where in dread majesty the emperors
had dwelt from the beginning, changed his residence to
Yedo, the former seat of the shogun now defunct, but
with the name changed to Tokyo. At length came the
crowning wonder, and when one day The Honorable Gate,
as his imperial title signifies, ''came in person to the
meeting of the Council of State and took an oath as an
actual ruler promising that a deliberative assembly should
be formed ; all measures should be decided by public
opinion ; the uncivilized customs of former times should
be broken through ; and the impartiality and justice dis-
played in the works of nature be adopted as a basis of
action; and that intellect, and learning, should be
sought for throughout the world, in order to establish the
foundations of the empire."

Suiting the action to the word, an embassy, composed
largely of high officials of the government, was des-
patched to the United States, and afterwards made a
progress through Europe, not for show, but for earnest
business; appearing in Washington in February of
1872. And it was this event " that marked the formal
entrance of Japan upon the theater of universal history."
A very furore for change set in. '' Everything domestic
came to be looked upon as inferior ; everything from
abroad was accepted as superior, and adopted with lit'

JAPAN. 355

tie inquiry as to its merits." European costume for
men and women, modes of cooking, beer and wine,
dancing and cards, among other '* improvements," be-
came exceedingly popular. But together with abundance
of folly, choice was also made of much that was among
the best and most characteristic in the western world.
Like the Code Napoleon, navy, army, coinage, post-
office, steamships railroads, telegraphs, lighthouses on
every prominent point of the coast, cotton and paper
mills, a school system extending from the kindergarten
to the university, with educational works by the hundred
and thousand, as well as modern medicine and surgery.
Yes, and commencing with January of 1874, the Gre-
gorian calendar came into use, and the Christian Sabbath
became a rest day for all teachers and government em-
ployees. Provision was made for a constitution, to go
into effect in 1890, which gave the country a legislature
Df two houses, and in part elected by the people. Some
hundreds of thousands of eta and hinin, outcasts held in
contempt, and with no protection from the laws, were
made citizens. Some hundreds of choice young men
were sent to the United States to be trained in our best
institutions of learning, and as many more to those of
Europe. To meet the present emergency, until natives
could be educated in sufficient numbers, scores ot for-
eign scholars, engineers, military men, jurists, phy-
sicians, etc., etc., were called in to construct and set in
motion the new machinery. Resort was also had in
liberal measure to Christian missionaries who were
already upon the ground, for, not unwillingly, their
manifold gifts and graces were received and utilized as
an integral and important part of the admired civili-
zation of the west. Christian scholars like Verbeck, and

35^ A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Others, were in higher favor from the fact that, while the
great embassy was in Germany, where much was seen
and heard that made a profound impression, the
Emperor WilHam and Bismarck hesitated not to speak
plainly and emphatically to the Japanese princes of the
value and the imperative need of Christianity among
the people, if a nation is to prosper. And what an un-
matched spectacle it was, taken in all its parts ! A
renascence vastly more wonderful than Italy beheld in
the famous days of the Medici. Only to be equaled, for
sublimity and significance, by the first months of the
French Revolution. A nation was born in a day. At
one leap the gulf was spanned which separated the Dark
Ages from the Nineteenth Century !

Just about twenty years after Perry's cannon aroused
the hermit nation from the sleep of ages, Japan was found
open and accessible. At least the Gospel could enter
with a fair chance to make its way forward. The edicts
were removed in 1873, which for two hundred years had
threatened death to every soul that dared to love Jesus,
or to speak for Him. To this day, however, church
property can be held only upon the concessions granted
in the treaty ports, while elsewhere ownership must be in
native hands. Neither are foreigners allowed to reside
in the empire beyond the twenty-five mile limit, unless
in the employ of the government, or of some native
company, or individual. In order to travel in the in-
terior, passports are required, and these are granted only
upon grounds relating to ** health " and ** science."
Though these two terms are commonly construed by the
officials with almost limitless liberality, consciences not a
few hesitate about preaching Christ under such a sub-
terfuge, and with at least the semblance of law-breaKing.

JAPAN. 357

But in spite of these and other obstacles, and with the
rising tide of enthusiasm for things foreign to largely
counterbalance, when for substance the tremendous
political revolution had been achieved, a great and
effectual door for evangelizing labor was found standing
open, and inviting entrance. All along, ever since their
advent nearly fifteen years before, the half-score of
pioneers had been making the most of their limited op-
portunities, though as yet with next to nothing to show
of visible results. The first baptism had occurred in
1866, but the first church, with a membership of nine
natives, was not organized until 1872. The missionary
force was now greatly enlarged by the entrance of other
organizations. The American Board and the English
Church Society had sent their representatives in 1869,
or soon after the abdication of the usurping shogun, and
within five years five more followed, and in this order,
making ten in all : The Union Woman's Society, the
Methodist Episcopal, the Canada Methodist, the Propa-
gation Society, and the United Presbyterian of Scotland.
By the end of that decade fifteen organizations were in
the field, and by 1890 the number has risen to twenty-
six. During the period of armed strife, and while the
stunning political changes were in progress, so intensely
occupied were men's minds in other realms that little
time was left to attend to religious affairs, nor to any ex-
tent had the disposition to listen to what the mis-
sionaries might say begun to be as yet. Prejudice had
penetrated to the heart's core. The ogre of Jesuitism
still terrorized the multitude, and kirishitan (Japanese
for Christian) was a synonym for the devil and all his
damnable works. The ice of ignorance and dislike was
first broken by the passionate desire to become acquainted

358 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

with the marvels of the western world, the languages,
sciences, forms of government, and all the rest. And
who so accessible as the clusters of missionaries to be
found in the treaty ports. To gain what was desired,
all sorts of schemes and subterfuges were resorted to, and
large doses of doctrine and moral precept were swallowed.
Classes were formed, and schools were opened. And it
came to pass, such was the power of the truth, and such
the docility and ingenuousness of the Japanese mind and
heart, {vide the statement concerning the people made to
Xavier by the convert from the islands), that it was not
long before, in many cases, baser motives began to be
exchanged for far worthier ones, and earnest seekers after
salvation began to multiply.

And this phenomenon presently came into view. A
fact became evident, which, though in steadily diminish-
ing degree, has ever since characterized Christianity in
the Land of the Rising Sun. It came to pass, as no-
where else in the annals of missions either ancient or
modern, that the bulk of the inquirers and converts were
not from the poor, the ignorant, the pariahs of society ; but
from among the middle-upper class, samurai, the knights
of the feudal days, the literati, young men of social
standing and culture, of intellectual force and political
influence; the future leaders of the people, statesmen,
officials of the government. These were now crowded
into the large cities, were the first to come into contact
with foreigners, and to feel the impact of the new ideas.
Even yet, the masses, the inhabitants dwelling in the in-
terior, have scarcely been touched by the glad tidings.
A distinct and memorable advance was made in Yoko-
hama in 1872, when Christians of every name united to
observe the Week of Prayer. So delightful were the

JAPAN. 359

meetings, and so manifest the unusual presence of the
Spirit, that they were continued through the month, and
to the end of February, with spiritual power steadily
growing. Much earnest supplication was mingled with
the instruction, and the Book of the Acts was read in
course, and studied, and prayed over. It was a season
of remarkable religious quickening and exaltation of
thought and feeling. "For the first time the Japanese
were in a prayer-meeting, and upon their knees pouring
out their souls for a blessing on their country." It was
verily Pentecost come again. As a direct result, early in
March nine young men were baptized, and with two
older ones were united in Christian fellowship, forming
thus the first church in Japan. From this prophetic be-
ginning the blessed work spread to other portions of the
field, though for ten years nothing else so noticeable oc-
curred. As reinforcements poured in, new stations in
quite large numbers were opened. The native Chris-
tians were fervid and had a mind to work, and before
long began with great effect to play the part of evangel-
ists to their neighbors and friends. In 1877 the first
native was ordained, and set over a church in Osaka.
Two years before this Joseph Neesima, after an exper-
ience full of elements touching and romantic, and a
thorough course of training, had returned from America
to his native land overflowing with zeal, and longing to
see his people turned to the Gospel, in due season to lay
the foundations and rear the walls of his Doshisha (One-
Purpose Company), a Christian university, and his mon-
ument for all time. As far back as 187 1, Captain Janes,
a soldier, had been engaged by an ex-daimio to open a
school for young men in Kumamoto. For three years
not much was said about Christianity, though he had

360 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

gained the admiration and affection of his pupils, but
then one day he said : ** I shall teach the Bible on Sun-
day ; any one who wishes may come to my house." A
few accepted the invitation, but with no serious purpose,
and only out of regard for their instructor. After an-
other year several who had begun to be impressed fol-
lowed Captain Janes' counsel and spent a New Year's
vacation reading the Gospel of John,' and in prayer for
themselves and their schoolmates. A revival followed in
the school lasting for several weeks, during which about
forty confessed Christ, and as many more took up the
study of the Scriptures. Finally, one Sunday, a com-
pany of the Christian students ''made a solemn cove-
nant together that, as they had thus been blessed by God
in advance of all their countrymen, they would labor to
enlighten the darkness of the empire by preaching the
Gospel, even at the sacrifice of their lives. They prayed
kneeling, and wrote an oath-paper, on which they signed
and sealed their names." Sharp persecution from their
relatives followed to a portion of the number, under the
effect of which a few turned back, but the most — the
oldest was under twenty — were immovable. Presently
they appear at the Doshisha, to form its first theological
class, and to-day, with a few exceptions, are found in the
ministry, or in other related callings, and the members
of the *' Kumamoto Band " will always rank high among
the mighty molding forces which operated early in New
Japan.

The period of 1870-80 was one of quiet and not ex-
tensive growth. The seed was sown beside all waters,
but the abundant harvest was not yet. In 1879 the
number of converts was only 2,701 and of these 1,084 had
been received during the year. Then followed a series

JAPAN. 561

of years during which the kingdom of heaven in Japan
advanced by strides and leaps. The converts increased
marvelously, at the rate of fifty per cent, annually, and
during one year at the rate of sixty-seven per cent. And
the Christian world looked on witli amazement, scarcely
able to believe the reports of ingathering sent home by
the rejoicing missionaries. It looked as though the com-
plete evangelization, and even Christianization, of the
empire was in sight. But then, under the influence of a
variety of co-operating causes, the flood of zeal began to
subside, and the work goes forward much more slowly
and heavily. In 1889 the additions to the churches
amounted to 5,677, but in the next year they fell off" to
1,199, with a number still smaller in 1891. The craze
for foreign products was now over, had run its roaring
and turbid course, and a violent reaction had set in.
An almost frenzy began to rage for nationalizing and
Japanizing everything, and in religion as well as elsewhere.
Besides, a rationalizing spirit entered the churches, de-
rived from Unitarian and German sources. But now
the indications are abundant that once more the pendu-
lum has begun to swing towards the center. As one
token from a number, in 1892 the accessions to the mis-
sion churches rose to 2,144, or double those of the year
preceding. These figures will tell something of the prog-
ress made to date in laying the foundations of the Gospel
in Japan. The number of organizations engaged is 32,
which are represented by 226 men and 625 women, of
whom 210 are unmarried ; and 258 ordained natives,
and 536 unordained preachers and helpers. The fruits
of toil appear in 365 churches gathered, and 39,240
communicants. Besides, the Roman Catholics report
44,812 adherents gathered in 244 congregations, and the

362 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Greek Church (Russian) 20,325 in 219 congregations.
Upwards of 10,000 Japanese were baptized in 1892.

But what are these few thousands among so many
millions ? The bulk of the population has not yet even
heard the sound of the Gospel message. The mis-
sions are mainly in, ou .lear, the few treaty ports, while
the masses in the interior are left to their idols, and
vithout hope. For generations to come, the Macedonian
cry will come to Christendom from these islands, and
their deep spiritual needs will demand in large measure
the gifts, the prayers, the toils, of all those who would
see the kingdom spread over all the earth.

Before passing from this mission field so interesting
and at many points so unique it may be well to notice
two or three of its most striking peculiarities. And first,
from the beginning, there has been a lack ol apprecia-
tion almost utter for the theological and ecclesiastical
differences which separate the numerous sects engaged in
evangelizing work in the empire, coupled with a persist-
ent disposition to ignore them. The Japanese idea is
this : Why should the numerous quarrels and schisms
of Protestant Christendom be introduced and perpetu-
ated among us ? Why may we not build directly upon
the Word of God, the teachings of Christ and his
apostles, instead on upon the creeds and customs which
divide western churches into warring camps ? Like the
disciphs of early times, why cannot we be all one,
united in a single national church? This desire, so
strong as to amount to a settled determination, often
springs in great measure from an inborn indifference,
and inability, as touching all subtleties of logic and
metaphysical hair-splittings, and an overwhelming pro-
clivity to lay the chief emphasis upon the practical in re-

JAPAW. 363

Hgious affairs. It was significant that when the first
church was organized in 1872, though Presbyterian in
paternity, the only name taken was '' Church of Christ."
And so general and imperative has been the demand for
union, at least for federation, that the thirty-two societies
are found combined in twelve ecclesiastical bodies, and
five of these cover all but 1,644 of the native Christians.
Seven Presbyterian and Reformed societies are joined in
**The Church of Christ in Japan," four Episcopal
churches unite to constitute Nippon Sei Kokwai, while a
remarkable degree of harmony and fraternal co-opera-
tion exists between the residue. As a notable example
of this, in 1872 the various missions met and chose a
representative committee to prepare a translation of the
Scriptures which should suffice for all. A number of na-
tive scholars were also chosen to add their knowledge
and judgment. The New Testament was issued eight
years after, the Old Testament was not completed until
1888.

Again, and quite kindred to the fact just mentioned, the
Japanese display a remarkable readiness to be independ-
ent, to cut all leading-strings, to stand alone. Ordinarily
in mission fields, the great difficulty has been to per-
suade converts in any measure to think and act for them-
selves. They had no ambition in that direction, or the
capacity was wanting. But not so in Japan. Intellectual
force is abundant, with national pride (not to say con-
ceit) to reinforce it. In explanation we are to recall the
fact already stated, that the majority of the conversions
have hitherto been from among the samurai, young
men of the cultured upper-middle class, and not from
the pariahs of society. And further, since the recent
reaction set in, jealousy of all foreign interference or in-

364 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

fluence has received an astonishing impulse, even to the
point of regarding the missionaries as intruders, and
would-be rulers. And so the churches, with refreshing
confidence in their ability thus to do, proceed to
fashion creeds and covenants to suit themselves, to do
this and that with slight regard for occidental precedent.
And with this is coupled a phenomenon still more
strange. In a multitude of cases these unique saints in-
sist with all their might upon exercising the privilege
of doing the work of evangelizing their fellow country-
men, and of paying their own bills. In 1878 a native
home missionary society was formed, which has done
much to spread the Gospel in neglected and benighted
regions ; the contributions for self-support have always
been liberal beyond precedent ; of the sixty-five churches
formed in connection with the work of the American
Board, forty-one now receive no outside help, while sev-
eral have never been thus aided.

CHAPTER XIX.

SPANISH AMERICA.

Under the phrase Spanish America is included the
entire region lying between the southern boundary
of the United States and Cape Horn. The
area under view equals in size the vast Russian posses-
sions in both Europe and Asia, or Europe twice over with
three German empires in addition, and contains a popu-
lation of 47,500,000. For many reasons there is a fit-
ness in grouping together these twenty states which
politically are altogether separate and distinct. The
general physical features are quite similar. The peerless
Andes, witli their northern counterpart the Mexican
Cordilleras, extend from end to end, with here and
there volcanic peaks the loftiest in the world. The land
of the Montezumas is ''probably the richest known
argentiferous region in the whole world," the output be-
ing estimated at the prodigious figure of twelve thousand
millions of dollars, while in Peru, Potosi alone, a name
which ranks with Ophir and Golconda, has added a
thousand millions to the world's stock of silver. Then
except in the extreme south the climate is either
tropical or semi-tropical. Besides, the composition and
character of the population differ but little. The ruling
class is everywhere Spanish, Brazil only excepted, and
there the Portuguese are in power. Some ten or
twelve million Indians hold their original seats between
the Gulf of California and Cape Horn, a large portion
still in paganism and savagery. A larger element of the

365

366 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

population is composed of a mixture, in every conceivable
degree, of European and aboriginal blood. To these are
joined other millions of Negroes, once slaves but now
free, while in later times has occurred a large emigration
of Germans, Italians, Jews, etc., and also of Chinese
and Hindu coolies. For the masses illiteracy is the
rule.

Still further the history of each one of the score of
states is in outline at least almost indentical with that of
all the rest. Spanish America was the first section of the
New World to be discovered and overrun by the greedy
gold hunters from the Iberian Peninsula. In the story
which sets forth their doings the truth is far stranger than
fiction. In an incredibly short space of time, by an un-
paralled series of tours of exploration and feats of arms^
the whole coast region, both on the east and west, was
visited by a mere handful of daring spirits and fell a
prey to ''civilization." Colonies were founded in
Brazil as early as 1504. The conquest of Mexico was
achieved by Cortes with five hundred and fifty men in
1510-21, while Pizarro in 1531-2 with one hundred and
eighty men marched against the Inca, and reduced his
empire to vassalage. In Buenos Ayres the foundations
of dominion were laid in 1535, in Paraguay in 1536,
and in Chili in 1541. For the better part of three cen-
turies the original conquerors retained possession, and
then suddenly and almost simultaneously (1809-21), by
a common and irresistible impulse imparted from the
Napoleonic wars, the inhabitants of every province, from
Texas to Tierra del Fuego, rose in rebellion, cast off the
foreign yoke, proclaimed independence, and one after
another adopted a republican form of government. It
is, however, a sad commentary upon the intellectual

SPANISH AMERICA. 367

and moral condition of the people, that such a multi-
tude of would-be despots have made their appearance
from that day to this, and that revolutions with immense
expenditure of blood and treasure have been so absurdly
frequent. Evidently fitness for self-rule has not yet been
attained.

Finally, from the beginning, the entire region under
view has been under the same ecclesiastical domination,
and the same religious training has been bestowed. In
the palmy days of the Great Discovery the privileged
Pope had the whole world at his disposal, and graciously
bestowed the New World upon his most loyal servitors,
Spain and Portugal, to wit, and a horde of priests and
friars sped across the Atlantic to rescue the souls of the
pagans. And ever since in realms spiritual the papal
church has allthings to its liking, has not failed to ru.e
with a high hand, and the fruits of ten generations ot
the Roman regime appear in forms most characteristic,
if also lamentable and heart-sickening. The outcome is
even worse than that to be found in southern Europe.
The civilization is of a low grade, while the masses are
left to grovel in dense ignorance and gross superstition.
Too often the priesthood is scarcely above the people for
intelligence and is grossly immoral, while the religious
teaching and practice are a curious compound of Chris-
tianity and heathenism, and the elements of the latter
preponderating. With fine and costly architecture, and
stunning spectacular display, the church routine is an
empty form, while all that represents the pure and
blessed Gospel of the Kingdom is dragged down to the
low level of the current political and social life, and with
shockingly easy accommodation to the semi -pagan and
semi -barbarous environment. Of course the tropical

368 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

climate, with excessive heat and moisture combined,
adds to the demorahzation and degradation. Let
Paraguay stand for Rome's most illustrious achievement
in the New World. For nearly a hundred years here
was the veritable paradise of Jesuitism. The Franciscans
were the first upon the ground, but later the wily dis-
ciples of Loyola entered, and soon ordered off all rival
missionary toilers, and from 1690 to 1768 held exclusive
possession. There was no lack of propagandizing zeal,
and from among the simple-minded natives converts were
made by the ten thousand. These were gathered into vil-
lages for more thorough discipline. A theocracy was set
up, a ''philanthropic despotism." Private ownership of
property was abolished, and in its place community of
goods prevailed. In a spirit truly paternal, the holy
fathers managed all the secular (as well as sacred) affairs
of the people, directed their labor, taught them various
useful handicrafts, and in almost every way fairly outdid
Louis XIV. himself in his precious dealings during the
same period with his habitans on the St. Lawrence.
Minds, and hearts, and consciences, were as clay in the
hands of these matchless potters, obedience was perfect,
while of individual volition there was nothing left.
Humanity was even transmogrified into a machine.
Only let the Jesuit touch the spring, and action would
follow strictly according to law. Since the political
revolutions occurred, several of the states have made no
inconsiderable advances towards enlightenment of every
kind, in most popular education and religious liberty are
provided for by law, and yet quite a number have made
next to no progress at all. Almost anywhere between
New Mexico and southern Patagonia to introduce the
Bible, or any form of teaching other than that of the

SPANISH AMERICA. 369

Catholic type, is to face fierce denunciation and mob
violence, if not also death. The roll of Protestant
martyrs in Spanish America contains already names not
a few and is a lengthening one. For, practically every-
where a bigoted priesthood is supreme in the hopes and
fears of the sorely benighted millions. And it was
mainly on account of this universal and abject bondage
to Rome, with the consequent intolerance to the extent
of horror and loathing for the ideas and practices flow-
ing from the Reformation, that missions in these parts
are of such recent origin, have as yet scarcely emerged
from the estate of feeble infancy, and so South America
with strict propriety can be termed '' the Neglected Con-
tinent."

Let us begin our more minute survey with the southern
half of the New World, reserving Mexico and Central
America for the latter portion of the chapter. Between
the Isthmus of Darien and Cape Horn lies a vast mass
of land 4500 by 3200 miles in its greatest length and
breadth, and covering some 7,500,000 square miles.
The most remarkable physical features are found in its
mountains, its mighty rivers, and its vast grassy plains
(pampas). The Amazon has no equal on earth, it drains
an area of 2,600,000 square miles, or twice the size of
the Mississippi Valley, while sending into the sea a flood
six times greater than that of the Father of Waters.
The bulk of this huge continent is situated within the
tropics, the equator stretching westward from the point
where the Amazon enters the Atlantic, but an ever nar-
rowing extension reaches far towards the southern pole.
The continent is parcelled out among thirteen national-
ities, and these figures will give the area and population
of each one.

370

A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Square Miles.

Population.

Brazil,

3,209,000

14,000,000

Argentine Republic

1,125,000

4,086,000

Venezuela,

600,000

2,323,000

Bolivia,

570,000

1,200,000

Colombia,

505,000

3,880,000

Peru,

465 ,000

2,622,000

Chili,

295,000

2,820,000

Ecuador,

1 20,000

1,270,000

Uraguay,

75,000

700,000

Paraguay,

100,000

330,000

The three Guianas,

200,000

500,000

Total,

7,264,000

33,830,000

Passing by for the moment the original enterprise look-
ing towards carrying a pure Gospel into South America,
the first successful attempt at evangelization was made in
1735, by the Moravian Church, and in Dutch Guiana
(Surinam). This was more than one hundred and fifty
years ago, only thirteen years after that body of Chris-
tians had begun to be, and while all the rest of Protes-
tant Christendom was sunk in a deep sleep as touching
obedience to the Lord's last command. And what an
anomaly it is, that more should have been accomplished
to date for the redemption of this southern continent by
this feeblest and humblest of the denominations, than by
all the others combined, and that more than half of all
the Protestant Christians of South America should be
found in the less than least of all the states, whether for
size or population ! In accordance with the policy
settled at Herrnhut of preferring fields spiritually most
barren and forbidding, after selecting the enslaved Afri-
cans of the West Indies, and then the Eskimos of Green-
land, the northeast coast lying between the mouths of
the Amazon and the Orinoco was chosen as the seat of
the third mission. And verily here the Brethren found

SPANISH AMERICA. 37 1

sin and sorrow, suffering and shame, to their hearts* con-
tent, and for themselves in sowing and watering for the
Master long waiting and discouragements numberless.
**The low-lying coast land was deadly for Europeans,
and the dense forests, through which the Surinam and
other rivers wend their earlier course, are still more
deadly. It was there that for a time every soul won
cost a missionary's lifey Men and women died by the
dozen and the score, but there was no lack of others to
fill their places. For various reasons progress was slow
for almost the entire first hundred years. Three classes
in particular were sought after. First the Arawack
Indians, and if possible worse off than these, the bush
negroes, who had once been in bondage, but had fled
from their masters and taken refuge in the back country,
and for the most part led the life of outlaws and des-
peradoes. After the toil of forty-eight years only fifty
converts had been made. The third class was composed
of the slaves upon the plantations. The Dutch masters
eyed the missionaries through the spectacles of odium
theologicuni, their ideas and ways were so different from
those of the Reformed, and in addition were much afraid
that piety of the Moravian type working in the black
breast might seriously interfere with his value as a field
hand. Some generations passed before much access
could be gained to these wretched creatures. Wars came
in to further interfere, and also famines and pestilences.
But nothing could daunt the courage of these ambassa-
dors for Christ, or at all chill the fervor of their zeal for
souls, and finally they conquered by sheer patient con-
tinuance in well-donig, coupled with unbounded good
nature, kindness, sympathy, and true affection, even for
the very vilest. In the early decades of this century the

372 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

skies began to brighten. The emancipation of the slaves
in the sixties led to much confusion, and compelled the
facing of new and grave problems, but a few statistics
will help us in some measure to appreciate the magnitude
of the revolution social, intellectual, and moral, which
by the matchless power of the Spirit and the Word has
been wrought. The missionary force numbers 80, of
whom 37 are ordained, with 7 native ministers and 437
other native helpers. The churches contain 8,572 com-
municants, while 30,000 adherents are identified with
the mission. Paramaribo, the chief city, is a stronghold
for the Gospel, More than half of the colony is con-
nected with the Moravian congregations, and since, be-
sides these, there are some 10,000 Lutherans, Reformed,
Episcopalians, etc. Dutch Guiana may now fairly be
called Christian.

It was considerably more than a century later before
the second assault was made upon this great kingdom of
darkness. The extreme southern point, Magellan's Land
of Fire, was selected as the most desirable location for a
mission. The immediate results were tragic to the ter-
rible, so that abundant opportunity was afforded to the
indifferent and worldly-wise to cry out, " failure," and
'^ waste." And yet, not to know the story of Allen
Gardiner, is to have missed one of the most pathetic and
thrilling and inspiring narratives ever put upon paper,
and also, judged by the New Testament, the Divine test,
one of the most glorious achievements which have at-
tended the spre-ad of the kingdom. The childhood of
this notable saint and martyr was prophetic of mature
years, for he used often to sleep upon the ground *' be-
cause he intended to travel, and would inure himself to
hardship." Entering the British navy, he voyaged the

SPANISH AMERICA. 373

whole world over, taking careful note of the condition
and needs of the various peoples, and while witnessing
the heathen worship in a Chinese temple received the
impulse which controlled the residue of his life. His
wife dying in 1834, he soon, and with all his might, de-
termined ''to become the pioneer of a mission to the
most abandoned pagans." South Africa was his first
field, but the Zulu war soon breaking out he was compelled
to flee, barely escaping with his life. A way of entrance
was sought to New Guinea, but sought in vain ; and then
South America was fixed upon. Three of the principal
English missionary societies were importuned to send
him thither, but all declined. He assayed to herald the
glad tidings upon the western coast, and again in the
northern portion, but only to be baffled. Returning to
England for assistance, at length the Patagonian Mission-
ary Society was formed, and thrice over Gardiner led a
forlorn hope to Tierra del Fuego to gain a foothold in
that dreary and dreadful waste. Finally in 1850, when
everybody but himself was utterly disheartened, with un-
conquerable faith he tugged away until ;2^i,ooo were
secured to fit out yet another expedition. And since to
undertake to dwell upon land among such incorrigible
thieves was to run daily risk of losing all things, while
sudden massacre by the brutal savages would be unceas-
ingly imminent, four boats were fitted up to hold the
needful supplies, and to furnish a place of residence.
With six companions this intrepid soldier of the cross
was transported to the island, and left with provisions
for six months. By a most calamitous blunder, the
powder and shot were overlooked and forgotten, and
carried away by the vessel which brought them, so that
the little company was doomed to subsist without meat.

374 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

nor could they defend themselves against attacks. *< The
climate is always dreadful with frequent rainy squalls in
summer, with snow and sleet in winter. The sky is
seldom clear and the winds are ferocious." Great
suffering presently ensued. In a tempest the smaller
boats were lost, and the anchor to one of the larger ones.
Sometimes protection was sought from the intolerable
cold in caves so damp as to produce rheumatism. To
fill to the full the measure of disaster, communication
from home bringing relief was delayed beyond all ex-
pectation, and food began to fail, with slow starvation as
the result. They wandered up and down the coast,
dying one after another, Gardiner the last to succumb.
September 6th was the fatal day for him, as his diary
stated, and the ship bringing supplies did not arrive
until the last of October. Marks upon the rocks, and
papers fastened here and there, revealed the place where
the bodies lay moldering. And what sublimer token
can be found than faith triumphant in the darkest hour ?
Hard by the spot where this hero had breathed his last
his feeble hand had traced Psalm 62 ; 5-8 : *' My soul
wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from
him," etc. A solemn charge was also left to his friends
not to neglect the object for which he had gladly sac-
rificed his life. As the result of all, the South American
Missionary Society soon came into being, the ship
Allen Gardiner was purchased, and other bands of mis-
sionaries were despatched. The ** failures" were not
yet over and one entire party of nine was murdered
while engaged in worship without the least suspicion of
danger. This catastrophe befell in 1859. Already the
policy was adopted which ever since, and with the
greatest care, has been pursued, of making Kepple

SPANISH AMERICA. 375

Island, one of the Falklands, a few hundred miles to the
east, the chief seat of the mission, and carrying thither
from time to time certain of the better class of the Pata-
gonian men and women, when tamed, civilized, Chris-
tianized, and educated somewhat, to be returned to their
homes as a nucleus for work among their friends.
After a while genuine conversions began to occur, and
such has been the general transformation that this field
now differs little from any other located in the midst of
a degraded people. Even so calm and sagacious an ob-
server as Darwin (not to say prejudiced and sceptical),
who had seen much of the Fuegians when in their
original brutishness and ferocity, and as he judged, the
lowest specimens of humanity — even he was filled with
wonder at the matchless power of Christianity there dis-
played, and to the end of his life was a regular con-
tributor to the funds of the society.

We pass next to Brazil, almost equal to all the other
South American states combined, for it covers nearly
half the area of the continent, and holds about half the
population, while so central is its location and so ex-
tensive are its boundaries, that it touches every other
state, Chili only excepted. As is most fitting, therefore,
much the largest number of organizations are here repre-
sented, by a far larger force of missionaries. And it was
also upon the soil of this imperial domain that the first
Protestant attempt was made to proclaim among the
heathen the Gospel of salvation. This was in 1555, two
hundred years before Carey was born. Calvin and
Coligny, with the French Huguenots, were concerned in
it, but since the scheme meant colonization much more
than Christianization, and soon came to an end in dis-
aster, we may dismiss it without further notice. Two

376 A HQNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Methodists are found at work in Rio Janeiro as far back
as 1836, but before the language had been learned, 01
anything had been undertaken in behalf of the natives,
one died and the other, on account of crushing financial
troubles at home, abandoned the field. Two years later
Dr. Kalley, a Scotch physician, undertook the task of
ev^angelizing the same city, and afterwards extended his
labors to Pernambuco, gathering churches and establish-
ing out-stations. In 1859 the Presbyterians entered the
capital, and have ever since held on, lengthening the
cords and strengthening the stakes. Earnest men and
women have gone up and down the coast, and far towards
the interior, selecting, one after another, important
centers, like Sao Paulo, Bahia, Brotas, Soracaba, Cam-
panha, and Rio Grande da Sul, and around each open-
ing clusters of preaching-places. The Southern Presby-
terians followed in 1869, occupying such strategic points
as Pernambuco, Campinas, Bagagem, etc., and pushing
out into Ceara, Maranhao, Alagoas, and other provinces.
In 1888, in response to a general desire both on the part
of the missionaries and the native ministers, the work
of these two denominations was federated, the three
presbyteries were readjusted and joined in the Synod of
Brazil. This body now reports 87 missionaries of whom
59 are ministers, 65 churches with 4,780 members, 383
joining last year. The contributions for twelve months
amounted to ^37,874. The Methodists re-entered this
field in 1876, and the Southern Baptists came in 1881.
Bishop Taylor has a self-supporting mission at Para; the
Episcopalians are doing somewhat ; both the American
Bible Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society
supply the Scriptures in the vernacular, and the South
American Missionary Society maintains a number of

SPANISH AMERICA. 377

chaplains for the benefit of English-speaking persons.
At Sao Paulo is located a Protestant college, where also
is the seat of the chief law school of Brazil, and a Pres-
byterian training school for native ministers and teach-
ers. Such in briefest outline is the evangelizing work
undertaken by Protestant Christendom for the 14,000,000,
who for the most part sit in darkness and the shadow of
death. Almost all the missions are planted upon the
coast, or near it, while the vast interior is altogether un-
touched.

The Argentine Republic is the second state in South
America for size and population. In this glance both
Uraguay and Paraguay will be included, since for our
purpose they present no distinctive features. In all three
the Catholic Church is established by law, though all
other churches are tolerated. In the country first named,
the government is liberal, and education and public im-
provements are fostered. We find ourselves again in the
region made sacred by the prayers and toils and suffer-
ings of Gardiner, and as we saw, the South American
Society was formed to carry on his work. Besides
Keppel, in the Falkland Islands, it has two stations near
Cape Horn, Ooshooia, and Wollaston recently removed
to Tekeenika, with the schooner Alle7i Gardiner plying
often between, and is represented elsewhere by chaplains
who render service in behalf of British colonists. The
Methodists entered Argentina in 1836, beginning work in
the city of Buenos Ayres, and since have extended the
theater of their beneficent work into Paraguay and Ura-
guay, as well as far back towards the interior. This de-
nomination is represented by 7 missionaries with their
wives, 15 ordained and 43 unordained native preachers,
by 1,200 church members, by probationers and others

378 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

enough to make a total of 10,000 adherents, and 2,000
pupils in the schools. The American Bible Society sup-
plies efficient co-operation.

Let Chili, across the Andes, come next into view. Its
shape is most peculiar. Situated between the mountains
and the ocean, it stretches from Peru to southern Pata-
gonia, with a length of 2,600 miles, while the breadth
varies from 240 miles down to but forty. Catholicism is
enthroned as the state religion, but the law grants tol-
eration to Protestants. Education is free, and schools
are provided of various grades up to a university, with
departments of law, medicine, and the fine arts. The
press is also untrammeled. The Presbyterians sent mis-
sionaries in 1873, and work out from four centers, San-
tiago, Valparaiso, Concepcion, and Copiapo. The force
now consists of 7 ministers, 6 of them with wives, 3
ordained and 1 2 other native helpers. In the 5 churches
are 295 members, and 400 children in the schools.
Bishop Taylor has missions (Methodist), with flourishing
church and school work, in Santiago, Concepcion, Co-
quimbo, and Iquique. In 1878-89 he sent to the west
coast of the continent for his self-supporting work 26
preachers, with 9 male and 46 female teachers. The
American Bible Society is present to supply the printed
Word, and the chaplains of the South American Society
preach in their mother tongue.

Bolivia has in its population 1,500,000 Mestizoes, a
mixture of Spanish and Indian, and 1,000,000 Indians.
The Catholic Church is established by law, and no other
may hold public service of any kind. With this import-
ant limitation, religion is free. The intellectual condi-
tion appears in the fact that, with inhabitants numbering
3,500,000, only about 25,000 children are found in the

SPANISH AMERICA. 379

schools. The American Bible Society is the only ex-
ponent of a pure Christianity.

Peru contains 350,000 uncivilized Indians, and 50,000
Chinese coolies, and of the population remaining, twenty-
three per cent, is composed of a mixture of white races
and red. The constitution prohibits the public exercise of
any but the Catholic religion, and yet this clause is so
far disregarded that Jews and Anglicans maintain serv-
ices in Callao and Lima, and the Methodists are at
work in the same cities, with Rev. T. B. Wood as pre-
siding elder. A colporteur of the American Bible So-
ciety also pushes his work, quietly and '* without observa-
tion." It was however this same man, F. Penzotti, who
a few years since was arrested for circulating the Word
of God in the vernacular, and expiated his *' crime " by
lying for months in prison.

In Venezuela, with the Roman Church in the place of
civil power, other faiths are '^ tolerated " except that
** they are not permitted any external manifestation."
The only form of missionary toil is found in the circula-
tion of the Bible in Spanish by the American Bible
Society.

Colombia is in a religious case slightly better, for here
the Catholics suffer Protestants and others to preach
and propagate their opinions freely, so long as they do
not go "contrary to Christian morals nor the law."
Under the gracious protection of this shield the Presby-
terians entered Bogota in 1856. Fierce opposition was
aroused at once on the part of the jealous priesthood, but
fortunately the civil authorities stood by the missionaries,
and they have continued to this day. Political revolu-
tions have hindered much, and for various reasons prog-
ress has been slow. With 5 ministers, 7 women, and 16

380 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

native helpers, 4 stations are occupied, 3 churches, with
144 members, have been formed, and 250 children are
in the schools. The Bible Society is a stanch helper.

Ecuador stands last in more senses than one. The
Catholic Church is supreme everywhere, is all in all.
** The constitution excludes all other creeds." As the
name implies this country lies under the equator, and so
is extremely hot — for all heretics. Not China, Japan,
or Korea, was ever more effectually closed against the
entrance of a living Gospel.

In summing up for South America, before proceeding
northward, we must not fail to take especial notice of the
exceedingly prominent part played by the two great
"Bible societies, of Great Britain and the United States.
The one has 1 1 colporteurs constantly at work while the
other maintains 37 agencies and about 30 colporteurs,
and in cash donations expends upwards of ^60,000 a
year. In all, between the Isthmus and the Cape, are
found 117 male, and 134 female missionaries, and 44
native ministers, a total force of 885. But this is only
at the rate of one Protestant minister to every 225,000 of
the population. Into the mission churches are gathered
14,809 communicants, and a little over 6,000 into the
schools. A liberal estimate would make the adherents
number not more than 60,000. Only so many, out of a
population 34,000,000, or but one out of 566 in any de-
gree associated with a pure and intelligent faith.

Central America.

Central America can be dismissed with few words. As
to physical characteristics, climate, and population, it dif-
fers but little from its neighbors to the south and north,
while of missionary work bestowed there is next to none.

SPANISH AMERICA. j8l

The five little republics, which are grouped together
under this term, are sometimes confederated, some-
times independent, and frequently at war with each
other, or distracted and desolated by internal strife.
Great Britain has a crown colony in this same region.
The following table will show the area and population
of the several states.

Square Miles.

Inhabitants.

Guatemala,

46,800

1,460,000

Nicaragua,

49,500

313,000

Honduras,

46,400

432,000

Costa Rica,

37,000

243,000

Salvador,

7,225

777,900

British Honduras,

7.562
194,487

31.500

Total,

3,257,400

Everywhere the people are Roman Catholics, in Costa
Rica the papacy is established by law, but in all the
states Protestantism is tolerated. Only two denomina-
tions are represented among these millions of Spaniards,
Indians, Negroes, and a multitude composed of a
promiscuous mixture of the three. Since 1847 the
Moravians have sustained a mission upon the Mosquito
Coast of Nicaragua, where ever since the days of the
buccaneers, every conceivable influence which makes for
evil has been working wickedness and shame. Blue-
fields was taken as a center, and for almost a half cen-
tury the Brethren have been patiently founding and
building all manner of good institutions among the In-
dians, delivering them from bondage to their gross
vices and superstitions. Traveling from station to sta-
tion is largely by water, and a vessel is kept for the pur-
pose. Many precious lives have been sacrificed to the
tropical and malarial climate, and to overexhausting
labors, but 697 communicants, 5,171 baptized adherents,

382 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

and 634 children in the schools, stand for gains much
more than commensurate with the cost. Of late the
government has given permission to enter the interior.

The other mission in Central America was founded in
1883 by the Presbyterians, and is located in Guatemala
City, the capital of the state of the same name, about
sixty miles from the seaport, San Jose. The first mis-
sionary, Rev. John C. Hill, was sent out at the request
01 President Barrios, who also paid the traveling ex-
penses of his family, the freight charges upon furniture,
as well as purchased the equipment necessary for the
establishment of church and school work. But the path-
way since has not been always strewn with roses. Let
the last report present the situation. " Guatemala as a
mission field is encompassed with difficulties. Of the
inhabitants 300,000 are Ladinos, people of mixed blood,
and of the remainder a large majority are of the in-
digenous races, many of them descendants of the ancient
Toltecs, and constitute the coolies and beasts of bur-
den of the country. The condition of the people,
socially, morally, and religiously, is deplorable. The
first house of worship was dedicated a year ago and dur-
ing the past year two churches have been organized, one
of Spanish-speaking, and the other of English-speaking,
persons. ** Two ministers with their wives and a native
teacher carry on the work."

Mexico.
Mexico forms the third general division of Spanish
America, and constitutes the New Spain of former days.
Once this was a viceroyalty of imperial proportions, ex-
tending along the Pacific from the Isthmus to Puget
Sound. But two-thirds of this vast territory was lost

SPANISH AMERICA. 383

by the separation of Central America, the secession of
Texas, and the war with the United States in 1845-7.
The present area is about 770,000 square miles. The
extreme length is 1,900 miles upon the western side,
while the width varies from 1,000 miles at the north, to
but 130 at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. A coast-line of
6,000 miles affords but three or four good harbors. The
Tropic of Cancer divides the land into nearly equal
parts. But the climate is determined less by distance
from the equator, than by certain features of the relief.
The surface consists mainly of a plateau, to which the
ascent is quite abrupt from the low-lying plains along the
coast, and whose general elevation varies from 4,000 to
8,000 feet. Then, from this table-land rise various
mountain ranges to 12,000 feet and upwards, at least
ten extinct volcanoes exceed 16,000, while some, like
Orizaba and Popocatapetl, approach 18,000. Not a river
is to be found of any considerable value for navigation.
Silver has always been Mexico's prime production. A
metaliferous belt of extraordinary richness stretches
southeastward from Sonora to Oajaca, a distance of
1,200 miles. The population numbers about 11,500,-
000, and is composed of Spaniards, 2,200,000; Indians,
4,425,000; and a little less than 5,000,000, a mixture
of the two. In large part as a result of three centuries
of rigid discipline under Castilians and the Catholic
Church, the Indians are peaceable, docile, and fairly in-
dustrious. For generations they were esteemed only for
their silver-producing capacity, for the benefit of the
Spanish crown, by a ruthless system they were parcelled
out among the plantations, and the mines, and whether
held to service above ground, or below, their condition
was tantamount to slavery.

384 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

The earliest European settlements in Mexico were
made almost a century before the first upon the northern
Atlantic coast. And Spanish domination lasted exactly
three hundred years, or from the death of Guatemozin in
1521, to the departure of the last viceroy in 182 1. The
beginnings of the struggle for independence came in
1808, and when that revolution had reached a successful
termination, a long and dreary period followed of
anarchy and strife, but on the whole, with steady and
substantial gains for liberty and national prosperity. In
1857 a liberal constitution was adopted, which after
radical revision in 1873-4, is now the organic law.
When the republic was established, it also came to pass
that the Castilian element of the population began to
lose the place of power which it has always held, while
the plebeian Indians began to rise to controlling in-
fluence in the state. Moreover, by that event the days
were numbered of the tyrannical, and demoralizing,
sway of the Catholic Church. Until 1857 no other
faith had been tolerated. The Jesuits had been supreme,
and the Inquisition was an institution honored and
revered. One-third of all the real estate of the country
was in the hands of the priesthood, and one-half oi the
city of Mexico is said to have consisted of churches, con-
vents, and other ecclesiastical structures ! When bylaw
religious liberty was granted, in fact nothing of the kind
existed, and it was not until after Maximilian was de-
throned and executed, in 1867, that the great victory was
fully achieved. Then all ecclesiastical orders were sup-
pressed, convents were emptied of their occupants, and
all superfluous church establishments were appropriated
by the state. These wholesale confiscations amounted to
upwards of ^300,000,000. And now ** the liberal party

SPANISH AMERICA. 385

has Strangled the church and stripped it of every pos-
session. No priest dares to wear a cassock in public,
and in politics the clergy are powerless, while parish
schools are prohibited." As far back as 1886, there
were in existence ii,ooo primary schools, with 600,000
pupils, and it was estimated that not far from 2,500,000
persons were able to read and write.

** The Bible was borne into Mexico by General Scott's
army," and there can be little doubt that, by the direct
and indirect results of the war with the United States, the
day of spiritual redemption for that benighted and priest-
ridden country was hastened. Within ten years of the
close of that lamentable and iniquitous struggle, a con-
stitution was adopted which made it possible for Prot-
estantism to live and propagate itself within the bound-
aries of the republic. And the first missionary was a
woman. Miss Melinda Rankin, who early in the fifties
established a school in Brownsville, on the American
side of the Rio Grande, later crossed to Matamoras, and
in 1866 began work in Monterey. With money raised
by herself, she trained and sent out colporteurs to dis-
tribute the Scriptures. For twenty years her eftbrts con-
tinued, and bore abundant fruit. In the meantime the
American Bible Society had entered the field with its
agents, sending the first one in i860, and ever since has
stood among the chief of evangelizing forces in all that
region. Last year 48 colporteurs were actively engaged,
the cash contributions, for the Mexican work amounted
to almost $20,000, and 23,614 Bibles, or portions, were
distributed, and 125,050 during the last ten years. But
the full measure of Miss Rankin's influence has not yet
been set forth. For it was through her that the attention
of Rev. H. A. Riley was directed towards the land of

386 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

the Aztecs. He had been over a Spanish congregation
in New York City, and was sent by the American and
Foreign Christian Union to the Mexican capital in 1869.
Arriving he found that a most remarkable preparation
had already been made. Several priests had months be-
fore openly renounced the errors and corruptions of
Rome, had made converts to their new convictions, and
were ready to adopt the creed and ritual of Episcopacy.
Soon these and others were united in the *' Church of
Jesus." For a trifling consideration a confiscated church
was turned over for their uses. But this shocking re-
ligious innovation was not wrought without furious oppo-
sition from the papal church. The excitement cul-
minated in disturbances so violent that upwards of forty
Protestants lost their lives.

The time had now arrived for the American churches,
as such, to begin to go up and possess the land for
Christ. And two decades almost cover the entire period
of organized missionary effort. The Friends crossed the
Rio Grande in 187 1, to enter upon the crusade against
ignorance, superstition, and priestcraft. In 1872 the
Presbyterians and the American Board sent forth their
pioneers. In pursuance to the action of the General
Assembly, a party of seven proceeded to the capital, and
found a large body of believers awaiting their arrival.
Nor was it long before solid foundations had been laid.
The next year Zacatecas was occupied, and from these
two centers enlargement has gone steadily on, until mis-
sions have been opened in twelve out of the twenty-seven
states, of which Mexico is composed. Outbreaks, and
mobs, and murders, have by no means been wanting,
but in spite of all, the churches, and schools, and the
mission press, have continued to diffuse the best that

SPANISH AMERICA. 387

Christianity and civilization can produce. The Presby-
terians are now represented by 7 men and 9 women; 25
native ministers, 20 licentiates and 54 other native
helpers; by 93 churches, 4,462 members, of whom 374
were received last year; and by 1,769 pupils in the
schools. The American Board entered from the west,
sending two men from California to break ground in
Guadalajara. At first the attempt seemed to meet with
quite general favor, though the priests were bitterly
hostile. The next year an out-station was opened ninety
miles away, at Ahualulco, where presently the leading
ecclesiastic stirred up a mob to set upon Mr. Stevens.
His doors were broken open, and all the goods were
stolen or destroyed, he himself was brutally assassinated,
with mutilation, and one of the converts was also killed.
A succession of mishaps followed until 1882, when after
reorganization a period of growth set in. During the
year just named Chihuahua was occupied, and with a
beautiful and commodious house of worship just com-
pleted, has already become quite a stronghold for the
Gospel in northern Mexico.

In 1873 the Methodists, both North and South, began
to lay foundations, the former beginning in the metrop-
olis, and later branching out into such cities as Guana-
juato, Puebla, Tlascala, Oaxaca, etc., in eight states;
while the latter have invaded no less than seventeen
states, including several important centers of population.
These two denominations report respectively 2,853, ^"<^
5,154 members, probationers included. The Baptist
Home Missionary Society was already engaged in the
same region and in 1884 both the Southern Baptist Con-
vention and the Associate Reformed Presbyterians took
up their share of the burdens. And finally, in 1888,

388 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

the Cumberland Presbyterians sent in a force of mis-
sionaries. Including the American Bible Society, twelve
organizations are now united in shedding light in the
midst of the great darkness. In the City of Mexico
alone, with its 350,000 inhabitants, are found 8 mis-
sions, 18 congregations, 16 native ministers, 13 day-
schools, and 3 boarding schools for girls. The Meth-
odists are in possession of a building which was once
put to the accursed uses of a dungeon and torture-room
for the Inquisition. In 1893 there were engaged in
behalf of the 11,500,000 Mexicans, 187 foreign and 546
native workers, distributed among 87 centers, and 469
congregations. In the churches are now nearly 17,000
communicants, and with them are associated enough to
make at least 50,000 adherents. Tliere are 7 theological
schools with 88 students, 23 boarding, and 164 com-
mon schools, with over 7,000 pupils. Eleven Christian
papers are published, and the total of missionary prop-
erty approaches to ^850,000 in value. These results,
representing the toil of only twenty years, cannot but be
regarded as remarkably large, and full of encourage-
ment, as well as abundantly worth all it has cost to gain
them, even though nearly sixty lives have been de-
stroyed by bigotry and fanaticism. The entire republic
lies open, inviting the entrance of the messengers of
peace, and if the churches were only half in earnest,
and would undertake with vigor to complete the occupa-
tion of every state in the north, south, east, and west,
the full redemption of Mexico would soon come.

CHAPTER XX.

THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

The term as here employed, relates not to the entire
12,000,000 of aborigines dwelling between the Arctic
Ocean and Cape Horn, but only that portion to be found
within the limits of the United States and the Domin-
ion of Canada, and numbering in all, probably, not
much more than 400,000. Of these Alaska contains
about 35,000, the various states and territories of the
Union 250,000, and the British Possessions 125,000. A
former chapter told in outline what was undertaken in
their behalf by Eliot, the Mayhews, Brainerd, the Mo-
ravians, etc., during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies, in the Eastern and Middle States, and noted the
lamentable fact that after the Revolution, from the co-
operation of various causes, work for the evangelization
of the red men almost entirely ceased. After the evil
passions excited by the frequent Indian wars (1750-
181 5) had died out, and as Christian zeal and solicitude
for the spiritually needy and perishing had been marvel-
ously quickened by the revivals which marked the early
decades of this century, once more attention began to be
turned towards the heathen at home, located upon the
various reservations, or hovering upon the vast frontier.

The Moravians, with Zeisberger as most eminent from
first to last, had held faithfully on, in spite of almost un-
paralleled discouragements and disasters, in Ohio, in
Michigan, in Canada, back in Ohio, again to Canada,

389

39© A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

and finally once more to the Muskingum, though only to
fail, and in 1824 to relinquish their lands. The Amer-
ican Board early planned a mission to the Indians in
Canada, but the war of 181 2-15 brought the project to
naught. But by the same society, in 1815-38, Cyrus
Kingsbury, S. A. Worcester, and many others were sent
to preach the Gospel among the Cherokees of Georgia,
the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, and the Osages of the
southwest. For years the work prospered. Large con-
gregations were gathered, many turned to the Lord, and
large advances were made towards civilization. Mission
Ridge became famous in those days, taking its name
from the abundant works of mercy and grace performed
upon its summit. But, as has so often happened before
and since, these aborigines were in the way of -white
settlers, their lands were coveted, and in utter disregard
of their rights and their welfare, after various exaspera-
ting encroachments they were finally compelled to emi-
grate to the far west. Out of 16,000 who made the en-
forced exodus in one body, more than 4,000 perished
from exposure and hunger while on the journey. In the
long and bitter struggle which preceded, the missionaries
had taken sides with their converts, protesting against
their wrongs, and two of them, for righteousness' sake,
lay for fifteen months in a Georgia penitentiary. Dur-
ing the same period other tribes were visited with the
message of salvation at Mackinaw, Green Bay, etc., and
in 1834 a mission was commenced among the Dakotas
(Sioux) on the upper Mississippi, not far from where
Minneapolis now stands. Later the central stations were
located upon the upper Minnesota, with Messrs. Riggs
and Williamson as devoted leaders in labor and endur-
ance. After thirty years had passed, and when churches

THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 39 1

and schools were prosperous, and many substantial re-
sults for Christianity and civilization had been gained,
of a sudden, and instigated wholly by the pagan Indians,
the dreadful "Outbreak," occurred of 1862, attended
by wide-spread conflagration and massacre, and ending
in the removal of the Dakotas from the state. It is
pleasant to recall that not a Christian Indian was impli-
cated in the deeds of violence and blood, while not a
few of them gave timely warning to their white friends,
and the missionary families were piloted across the vast
prairies to places of safety.

But already had the messengers of glad tidings crossed
the Continental Divide, and made their proclamation
upon the remote Pacific coast. The origin of missions
beyond the Rocky Mountains is connected with one of
the most pathetic incidents on record in the history of
the Kingdom, and well illustrates how, at least some-
times, the heathen mind in its darkness is stirred with deep,
though vague longings and feelings after God, if haply
it may find Him. When, just as the century was open-
ing, Lewis and Clark, first of civilized men, crossed from
the head waters of the Missouri to the mouth of the
Columbia, among the rest, they and some members of
their party, in telling the natives about the wonders of
the East, told them also of the religion of the whites, and
in particular, of God's Book of books. Before the ex-
pedition returned a request was made that missionaries
might be sent, though to this no sort of attention seems
to have been paid. It is said that fur traders, who soon
after entered this region, gave similar information to the
Indians, but that certain among them, taking advantage
of the desires excited, sold cards to the simple-minded
savages, alleging that these were leaves from the Bible,

392 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

Some of the Cayuses were so wrought upon that they
began to meet upon the Sabbath to worship the unknown
God. Year after year passed, but they waited and
longed in vain for the appearance of teachers. And
finally the Nez Perces despatched a delegation of four,
two aged chiefs, and two braves in their prime, to make
the journey of over 3,000 miles to St. Louis, to bear
their petition for some one to be sent to point out to
them the way of life. Mr. Clark was now Indian commis-
sioner, and the message was communicated to him, but,
for reasons not known, received no notice whatever.
Weeks went by in perplexity and disappointment, half
the number died, and a third one on the return journey,
but not a word of encouragement came from any quarter.
A little later, however, something of this strange story
reached the ears of the Christian public, and the Meth-
odist Church sent Jason Lee and a missionary party to
Oregon in 1833, and three years afterwards the American
Board commissioned Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spaulding
for the same field. These were among the very earliest
to make their way through the South Pass, and pushed
on to the valley of the Willamette. Dr. W. soon became
one of the most important factors in securing to the
United States that whole vast region, whose ownership
was then in dispute, and bent on this patriotic errand,
ventured a trip in mid-winter, on horseback, across the
mountains with incredible suffering and the imminent
risk of his life, and proceeded to Washington to conjure
the authorities not to heedlessly fling away such a price,
less national treasure. Quite a body of missionaries
were soon engaged among the Cayuses, and Nez Perces.
Mills were built, schools were opened, and the story of
divine love was told so effectually that thousands of con-

*flE AMERICAN INDIANS.

393

verts were gathered. And then, all without warning,
came overwhelming disaster in the massacre of 1847, in
which Dr. Whitman, his wife, his assistant, and six
others fell victims, while nearly fifty were taken captive.
Even yet the cause of this terrible outburst of Indian
fury is unknown, but is widely believed in some way to
have been connected with the then recent occupation of
the country by the United States, and the consequent re-
moval of the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company, who
had long been in possession. The mission was broken
up for years, and when at length resumed, was presently
turned over to other hands, and with excellent results has
ever since been maintained. As settlers crowded in,
other stations were opened by various organizations, at
points here and there, from the British line to Mexico.

The beginning of Methodist missions among the In-
dians was mentioned in a former chapter, and was made
by a Negro in behalf of the savage Wyandots on the
upper Sandusky. Through converts there gathered the
Gospel was carried in 1820 to the Ojibways of Canada.
In after years ten stations were maintained, which were
eventually transferred to the Canadian Conference. Not
far from the same date, Methodist missionaries made
their appearance among the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cher-
okees, and at the end of about twenty years had gained
some 2,000 members, but then followed the troubles and
excitements which ended in the expulsion of these tribes,
and most serious damage to the work of the Gospel.
Though followed to their new homes in the Indian Ter-
ritory by their religious teachers and pastors, such suspi-
cion and hate had been engendered that for a long time
scarcely anything could be done. At the present day
this denomination has an Indian Conference with 3,356

594 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

members. When the Methodist Church was divided, in
1845, the Southern branch became heir to the work in
the southwest, and now reports 89 missionaries in the
Indian Territory, 181 native preachers, and 12,759 ki^ki-
bers. At quite an early date the Baptists undertook the
evangelization of the aborigines in New York, and after-
wards in Indiana, and Illinois, as well as some of the
tribes in the Indian Territory, and report in all 21 white,
and 72 native missionaries, and about 6,000 members.
The Southern Baptists also occupy the field last named.
So far towards being Christian has the Territory be-
come, that out of a population of 69,000, not less than
28,521, or 41 per cent., of the population are communi-
cants in the churches ; there are 785 church organiza-
tions, while services are sustained in 422 houses of wor-
ship and 308 halls.

The Episcopal Church first carried the Gospel to
the Oneidas in 1815, ten years later extended the work
to Wisconsin, but it was not until i860 that much was
undertaken in a vigorous effectual way. The Dakotas
of the upper Minnesota were now visited with the Word
of life, and presently Bishop Whipple appears upon the
scene, to enter on his long career of most loving and un-
wearied service. No voice has been lifted oftener or to
better purpose than his in pleading the cause of the In-
dians, and in crying out against the iniquities which
have been practised upon them. The agencies at Leech
Lake, Red Lake, and White Earth have been in part
the theater of his toils. And in later years Bishop Hare,
among the Indians of Dakota, has proved himself a most
worthy coadjutor. The Presbyterians, separating from
the American Board in 1870, took the Oregon missions,
an4 proceeded to open others in the southwest among the

THE AMERICA:! INDIANS. 395

tribes of the Indian Territory, New Mexico, Arizona,
and California, and also in Dakota. And the American
Missionary Association has several stations among the
Sioux. These three organizations together have gath-
ered out of this single tribe, the wildest and fiercest of
all, upwards of 4,000 communicants, and a number of
native pastors have been trained and set over the peo-
ple.

Our British brethren have not been behind, in labors
of love in behalf of the red men inhabiting the northern
portion of the continent. And to their efforts this im-
portant advantage has providentially been accorded.
With a settled Indian policy, and with treatment on the
whole rational and righteous, Indian wars have been rare
indeed, and so the work of evangelization has seldom
suffered serious interruption. The Canadian Presby-
terians have gathered about 400 into their churches. The
Methodists sustain missionaries in the eastern, central,
and western provinces of the Dominion, and to the num-
ber of over 100; the annual expenditure is more than
^50,000, while the nearly 4,500 church members are
organized into eight conferences.

But the greater part of the Indian work, at least if
judged by the extent of territory covered, is in the hands of
the English Church Society. The region occupied is
mainly hyperborean, and largely arctic. The beginning
was made in 1826 upon the Red River of the North, net
far from Lake Winnepeg, a point then almost at the ends
of the earth. Since then steady enlargement has been
made, until now six grand divisions are found, extending
through eight dioceses. The mere names are enough to
make one shiver and shudder. Moosonee lies upon the

396 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

east, south, and west, of Hudson's Bay. Rupert's Land
and Qu'Appelle is in and about Manitoba. Saskatche-
wan to the north of the last, and Calgary to the west, lie
on the flanks of the Rockies. Athabasca lies to the
north of Calgary, with Mackenzie River to the north of
that and extending to the Polar Sea, while in the ex-
treme northwest, across the Rocky Mountains, is found
Selkirk, bordering upon Alaska, and including the upper
waters of the Yukon. Mackenzie River is the " largest,
most desolate, most sterile, and most frigid of them all."
Travel is on foot, by canoe, by sledge, or on snow-
shoes. Ten months may pass without letters or other
communication from the civilized world, while for
companions only Eskimos are to be had, or other savages
as filthy and groveling. And this statement relating to
Moosonee will tell something of what it costs to carry the
Gospel to those regions : ** In March, Mr. Lofthouse
visited York Factory, walking the whole distance, nearly
one hundred and seventy miles, in five days. There he
spent Easter, about sixty Indians coming for services,
several of them traveling eighty or a hundred miles.
No one in England can conceive what walking forty-
three or forty-four miles for four consecutive days on
snowshoes means, and at night sleeping under a tree,
with the skies for a covering. My feet were so blistered
that for nearly a week I could only hobble around."
Surely if anybody, men like Bishop Bompas, and Bishop
Horden who from 1854 until his death a few months
since, gladly endured exile for Christ's sake on the
bleak shores of Hudson's Bay, are entitled to the meed
of sainthood. The Church Society reports 56 stations
in this boundless field, held by ^^ European and 17 na-
tive clergymen, and a total missionary force of 177. The

THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 397

communicants number 2,448, and the adherents 14,076.
If we add those gathered by the Methodists, and Pres-
byterians, the Indian communicants in Canada, number

7»348.

But the most unique, and in many respects the most
remarkable attempt to evangelize the aborigines of the
Dominion belongs to the Northwest Coast, at first in
British Columbia, and since removed to Alaska. This
also originated with the Church Society, which in 1857
commissioned William Duncan, a layman, and sent him
forth via Cape Horn. Stopping at Vancouver he heard
nothing but words to discourage and terrify, but kept
on, and in due time was set down at Fort Simpson.
Several tribes of savages of the Tsimshean family dwelt
in the vicinity, and he soon had a taste of their fiendish-
ness in certain orgies performed just outside the walls,
lasting several days, attended by all manner of drunken
excesses, including several murders, and a cannibal feast
upon raw flesh. For months he did not dare to risk his
life among those he had come to turn to righteousness,
but busied himself learning their language. At length a
visit was ventured, and the story of the Gospel was told.
Later it was found possible to open a school for children
and adults, and later still the vvarriors united to build a
schoolhouse. Such was the genius of the man, so full
was his heart of love, so manifold and so unwearied were
his efforts to do them good, and that upon the material
as well as spiritual side, that within a year he had won
admirers, and had made not a few fast friends. And
yet on several occasions he narrowly escaped death from
the hate of confirmed evil-doers, and especially from the
medicine men (shamans), by whom he was regarded as
a dangerous rival. After long pondering, Mr. Duncan

398 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

was convinced that it was necessary to separate fron:i their
heathen surroundings all such as were disposed to follow
his teaching and counsel, and so undertook to found a
colony with strict rules and regulations. Several hun-
dred were found ready to remove some twenty miles
down the coast, when, in 1862, all the preparations had
been completed to lay the foundations of Metlakahtla,
and the number steadily increased, until the village con-
tained upwards of a thousand inhabitants. He himself
filled the office of civil magistrate, with power to enforce
the law, a council was chosen by popular vote, and a
force of constables was maintained. A tax was levied
of a blanket for each adult male, and a shirt for each
youth. Roads and wharves were constructed, slides for
canoes, drains, and houses for the entertainment of
strange Indians. Among the institutions were a fire
brigade, a brass band, a rifle company, and a two-gun
battery. The rude settlers were taught improved methods
of fishing and hunting, and in order to aid in exporting
what was produced, a schooner was purchased, ex-
changed later for a steamer, which plied up and down
the coast. A soap factory was opened, and a store on
the joint-stock plan, with a savings bank attached.
Weaving was taught, as well as carpentry, shoe-making,
brick-making, blacksmithing, etc. To crown all, a
saw-mill was built to run by water-power. When this
project was first broached, an aged ex-cannibal exclaimed :
*'If it is true that the missionary can make water saw
wood, I will see it and then die." Then the huts were
exchanged for two-story dwellings, clap-boarded, and
shingled, and supplied with chimneys, cooking stoves, bed-
steads, window-curtains, clocks, and some even with pic-
tures upon the walls. Two schoolhouses were constructed

THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 399

of size sufficient to accommodate seven hundred, and a
town hall large enough to hold the entire population.
But the church was easily the chef d'oeuvre of toil and
skill. The material was yellow cedar, a graceful spire,
with belfry and bell, were in place. The seating-
capacity was twelve hundred. Groined arches were
overhead, there were stained windows, a carved pulpit,
organ and choir, and Brussels carpet in the aisles — in
short all the appointments of a well-furnished Christian
sanctuary. And as the crowning wonder, from foun-
dation to capstone everything was wrought by native
hands ! The cost of all these improvements was not far
from ;^ 1 00,000, a part of which came from generous
friends in England, but the bulk was derived from
various business transactions in which Mr. Duncan was
leader and helper.

All along the school was maintained, and so the young
were trained to intelligence, industry, and good morals.
Nor was the religious side of character and life in the
least neglected, in the multitude of schemes for the ma-
terial betterment of the natives. Some Chilcats, who
had paid a visit to the village, took home incredible ac-
counts of how they had found there a body of '' Indians
who had become white, could talk on paper, and hear
paper talk, wore white folks' clothes, and lived in houses
with windows; had forsaken their medicine men and no
longer ate dog's flesh, or killed each other." When the
schooner made her trips down the coast, it was nothing
unusual for two hundred letters to go, written by Indian
hands. And, as the supreme proof of the presence of
divine power, when only a year after Metlakahtla was
founded, the Bishop of British Columbia visited the miis-
sion, after several days spent in examining candidates.

400 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

fifty-six witnessed such a good confession that they were
baptized. The next year fifty-five more were admitted
to the church, eighty-four others in 187 1, while by 1879
no less than 579 adults, and 410 children, had been
baptized, and also 137 couples had been joined in Chris-
tian marriage. Other helpers came, and other stations
were opened upon the same general basis. After twenty-
five years of such exhausting toils, crowned with such
striking successes, it is sad to be obliged to record that
serious differences of judgment and conviction arose be-
tween this devoted schoolmaster-missionary and the
great society which had sent him out. For years excite-
ment, and not a little ill-feeling, pervaded the settle-
ment, and at times the entire work seemed to be in the
greatest jeopardy. And when at length no place for
compromise appeared, by Mr. Duncan and the entire
body of Metlakahtlans it was decided to forsake their
entire possessions, houses, public buildings, and their
contents, and remove across the line into Alaska, which
fortunately was not far away. Upon application at
Washington, Annette Island was assigned to these exiles,
and in the autumn cf 1887 the painful exodus was made,
and the foundations of New Metlakahtla were laid. The
location is described as delightfu!, and admirably well
chosen ; the population is nearly as large as it was in the
palmiest days ; signs of progress appear on every side,
and the future is full of hope. Such, in briefest outline,
is the story, which in its details reads like a romance,
from the first chapter to the last, and proves once more
that sober truth may be stranger than baldest fiction.
Metlakahtla is a name every way worthy to stand in the
same category with Serampore, Tranquebar, Kuruman,
or any other illustrious scene ci apostolic labors in

THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 4OI

heathen lands, while the most remarkable results of evan-
gelistic toil there achieved enable us to gain a glimpse
of the signs and wonders possible to the Gospel, in the
midst of difficulties most appalling, when Divine grace
co-operates with human qualities of a high order, when
to boundless devotion and heroism are also joined
boundless good sense, breadth of view, and genius for
invention and leadership. Well might Lord Dufferin,
then Governor General of Canada, exclaim that he
" could find no words to express his astonishment" at
what he saw. And Charles Hallock wrote : ''Metla-
kahtla is truly the full realization of the missionaries*
dream of aboriginal restoration." And N. H. R. Daw-
son, Commissioner of Education: ''The story is one
of the wonders of the age." And Sheldon Jackson :
** There are few chapters in missionary history more full
of romance or more wonderful."

As for Alaska and its 35,000 Indians there is not much
to say. Only a few years have elapsed since the first
Gospel messenger was despatched to make proclamation
of Christ to the few tribes dwelling upon the coast, and
along the streams. With a large part of this region
communication is infrequent and difficult. The Presby-
terians began at Fort Wrangel in 1877, and from the
tiny seed then planted have grown 7 churches with 580
native communicants, and about 750 children in the
schools. The Moravians located a mission upon the
Kuskokwim in 1885, and the Episcopalians another upon
the Yukon the year following. About the same time en-
tered also the Methodists, the Baptists, the Friends, and
also some missionaries sent by the Swedish Mission
Union. But in 1889 came a call for beginnings much

402 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

further to the north, and among the Eskimos dwelling to
the north and east of Bering Straits. In response, the
American Missionary x^ssociation chose Cape Prince of
Wales, the Episcopalians Point Hope, 220 miles beyond,
and the Presbyterians Point Barrow, 310 miles further
still, and the most northern point on the mainland of the
continent. The heroes who hold this outpost are 4,000
miles to the north of San Francisco, far beyond the
Arctic Circle, and so near the pole that sometimes the
summer passes without the ice thawing sufficiently to al-
low a vessel to penetrate so far. How dreary are the
winters, and the natives how filthy, and stupid, and vile.
But even here the Gospel is a power unto salvation.

CHAPTER XXL

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED.

Taken altogether, the pages which precede set forth
the stage of advancement now reached by the work un-
dertaken for the world's evangelization, and at the end
of the first hundred years from the date of the glorious
re-beginning of Christian missions, under the lead of
William Carey. And indeed the fact has been abund-
antly demonstrated, that a marvelous development of
the kingdom of heaven has taken place. The ingather-
ing of souls in pagan lands has been great. Millions
have turned from the worship of idols to the service of
the living God, probably as large a number as were
reached by the Gospel during the first three centuries
after the advent of the Redeemer of men. And the ter-
ritorial expansion, the portion of the earth's surface vis-
ited for the first time with the message of salvation, wit-
nessed since 1793, vastly exceeds all that occurred from
that date back to Pentecost. Besides, far more barriers
have been removed, more doors of entrance have been
opened. Every continent and island around the whole
globe has been discovered, and visited, and explored,
and made accessible ; and by the railroad, the steam-
ship, the telegraph, and excellent postal facilities has
been brought near. In addition, the ruling powers of
to-day, those possessed of fleets, and armies, and com-
mercial enterprise, are almost wholly Christian, and by
them in many ways the intolerant heathen and Moham-

403

404 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

medan governments are restrained from evil, and im-
pelled to rational and righteous doing. More than a
third of the followers of the prophet of Arabia are sub-
ject to Great Britain alone. In well-nigh every region
the lives and property of missionaries are secure. So-
cieties by the hundred have sent forth by the thousand
consecrated men and women, while by the million the
money to sustain them is regularly bestowed. And finally
evangelizing methods have been perfected under the tui-
tion of large experience, potent instrumentalities have
been fashioned in great variety, and all needed appli-
ances have been set to work. Christendom, if not yet
fully awake to the magnitude and importance of the
task, is at least steadily arousing to solicitude and zeal.
The passing century of wonders has beheld no phenome-
non more astounding than that connected with the dif-
fusion of the truth as it is in Jesus since the notable day
when the poverty-stricken cobbler-preacher- school-mas-
ter, with consuming fervor exhorted his fellow-Baptists
to *' Expect great things from God," and, to " Attempt
great things for God." How changed in every particu-
lar, how enlarged and strengthened beyond conception,
are Christian missions, both as to their condition and
the outlook for the future. When Carey set forth for
India, the heart of Christendom was dead as touching
conviction and desire. And only this was Protestantism
doing for the redemption of a perishing world ; in and
about Tranquebar was a decaying Danish mission, and
the Moravians were maintaining a few stations among
the most benighted of the human family.

So regarded, viewed with only such facts in mind, the
last century constitutes an illustrious period in Chris-
tian history. But this is by no means a complete state-

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED. 405

ment of the essential facts in the case. There is another
aspect of a different sort, one far less flattering, and far
more serious. It is that which relates to what has not
been accomplished, the things that remain to be done.
The case for this generation is much like the one to
which Joshua called the attention of the chosen people
when near the close of his life. By the divine hand they
had been brought safely through the desert of wander-
ing, the Jordan had been opened that they might pass
over dry-shod, great victories had been won at Jericho,
and Ai, and Beth-horon, and when loyal and obedient
to Jehovah, no force however great had been able to
stand before them. But after all, the Canaanites were
not expelled. Many choice tracts were still in alien
hands. And the situation was summed up in these
solemn words, with specifications following : And there
remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. And
this is the supreme fact for the consideration of the dis-
ciples of Christ at the present time, and for long years
to come. With profoundest and abiding gratitude for
past achievements, thanking God and taking courage,
we are to address ourselves with might and main to the
completion of the tremendous task yet on hand. At no
point, and in no particular, is the undertaking finished.
At the best, only a fair beginning has been made. The
momentous campaign has simply opened. A world-wide
reconnoissance has been made to gain a needful knowl-
edge of the field, a few scattering skirmishes have been
fought to feel the strength of the enemy, and to find
where he is drawn up in force, and some comparatively
trifling successes have been won. The main battle,
which shall mark the turning point, the beginning of the
end, belongs in the unseen future. With this thought in

4o6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

mind, or with this conception of missions, let us give a
closing glance at the entire field.

With India a beginning can most fittingly be made^,
India the chiefest bulwark of the kingdom of Satan.
Amazing revolutions have been wrought since Carey
landed, an ^' interloper," in Calcutta. In every realm
is felt the beneficent influence of British dominion. Law
and order exist everywhere, and for all. Railways, high-
ways, and other public works have been constructed,
sanitary measures, and popular education, are carefully
provided for. Religious worship and teaching are free,
the missionary can go, and abide, and ply his calling
where he will, while all fanaticism is kept within the
proper bounds. No other field has been occupied by so
many societies, with so large a force, and in no other
country have so many converts been made. The mass
movements are significant, and prophetic of sweeping in-
gatherings in days to come. Every now and then
entire villages, and groups of villages, are found ready
to destroy their idols, to receive teachers, and asking for
baptism. But over against all this ; ah, the myriads to
De evangelized ! One-fifth of the earth's inhabitants are
crowded into the triangular space lying between the
Himalayas and Cape Comorin. Of these 175,000,000
are Hindus, more than 50,000,000 are Mohammedans,
and about 50,000,000 are degraded devil-worshippers.
And the entire number of '' Christians" (non-heathen,
non-idolatrous), Roman Catholics, etc., included, is but
2,275,000. Only about 250,000 found in Protestant
churches. Only some 800,000 are reckoned as connected
with Protestant missions. More than 250,000,000 are
unable to either read or write. Everywhere are appalling
ignorance and superstition. Upon all rests the curse of

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED. 407

caste, that most cunning and effective of all devices for
ensnaring souls, for making damaging divisions between
man and man, ministering to pride and self-righteous-
ness, as well as to indifference and contempt for one's
fellow men. Partly on account of climatic conditions,
there is an almost universal lack of ambition, and of love
of independence, lack of nerve, and energy, and push, and
a disposition to be content with things as they exist, no
matter how full of evil. With this, and the religious and
social systems long fixed and hoary with age, who can
measure, or imagine, the mass of vis inertice concentrated
in this vast peninsula. It is evident that redemption has
not yet come to India, and that there remaineth yet very
much land to be possessed.

Colossal. China takes rank among the foremost of polit-
ical, social, and religious organizations, hostile to Chris-
tianity, and able long to resist any onset likely to be
made. Something like a quarter of the human family
dwell within the boundaries of this oldest of nations.
Deepest poverty, and ignorance most dense, are the com-
mon lot. The civilization is highly developed, and its
existence is measured by millenniums. This people make
boast of one of the wisest of ancient sages, and can im-
agine nothing loftier than his moral teachings. Three
religions have long coexisted, and are strangely blended
in the hearts and lives of multitudes. The national con-
ceit of wisdom, and of all manner of superlative excel-
lencies, is preposterous almost to the sublime, with preju-
dice and contempt for all foreigners to match. The
Chinese mind is exceedingly cautious, conservative, slow-
moving, and averse to change. In place of caste, as the
supreme hindrance to the Gospel, ancestral worship is
found, and coupled with it full faith in the ever-present

408 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

and potent operations of geomancy (fung-shui). For
two hundred years all foreigners were rigidly excluded.
Until 1840 no footing was gained for the Gospel upon
Celestial soil. Not until i860 was it possible to pene-
trate to the interior, and not yet by any means has
gravest peril to life from infuriated mobs passed away.
After about a generation of comparative freedom for
evangelizing effort, something substantial and enouraging
in the shape of results can be named. A few limited
sections have been fairly well supplied with opportunities
for hearing the word of life. At least to some slight ex-
tent, most of the Eighteen Provinces, as well as Mon-
golia and Manchuria, have been visited by the heralds
of salvation, though Thibet with its 700,000 square
miles and 7,000,000 inhabitants, still keeps its gates
shut and barred. But, beset as it is upon both the south
and east, by several earnest and determined companies,
who are praying and watching and waiting for admis-
sion, and meantime studying the language, and trans-
lating the Scriptures, so preparing weapons for the holy
campaign, it is scarcely possible that more than a few
years will pass before at least the outworks of this, al-
most the last of the strongholds of heathenism, will yield
to the assault. In China proper just enough has been
achieved to prove that great results are within reach, and
are not far off, if only Christian efforts are put forth at
all commensurate with the magnitude of the task.
Mainly within twenty years, about 45,000 have been re-
ceived into church membership, and many of these have
shown themselves to be disciples of the steadfast and
stalwart sort. Yes, but what are 45,000 among 350,-
000,000 ? A drop in the bucket, a fragment in-

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED. 4O9

finitesimal. Of China also it must be written : There
remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

Until within a decade Korea continued to be a her-
mit nation, determined to hold no manner of communi-
cation with the great world, to think only her own
thoughts, to live altogether for herself. Persuaded since
to forsake this absurd and suicidal policy to some extent,
on the political and commercial side, so that foreigners
are tolerated in the treaty ports, the work of missionaries
is still contrary to law, is limited and hindered at almost
every point, and on the nation as a whole scarcely any
impression has been made. The people appear to be
well-disposed, and medical missions are full of bright
promise. But, Korea has been entered, and that is
all. Only a few initiatory steps have been taken to-
wards imparting to her 10,000,000, or 12,000,000 the
way of life through a crucified Saviour.

As for Japan, it is the marvel of missionary history.
Nowhere else in the annals of the race have changes
political, social, intellectual, and religious ever occurred
so numerous and sweeping, upon a scale so vast, in so
brief a space of time. And all these have wrought to-
gether to break down barriers, to throw up a highway
for the entrance of the Gospel. Much of what is best
and most characteristic of Christian America and
Europe, has been transplanted to Japanese soil.
Changes, which commonly have cost the toil and suf-
fering of centuries, have been effected within a single
generation. Already since 1873, within twenty brief
years, 40,000 have been gathered into the Protestant
churches, mainly, too, from the brainy, forceful, middle
classes, and enough more into the Catholic and the
Greek churches to raise the number nearly to 100,000.

4IO A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

And they differ from almost all other converts made in
mission fields in being eager for independence, deter
mined to think, conclude, and act for themselves,
ready to sustain the institutions of the Gospel where
these are already planted, and also ready to carry the
Gospel into the '' regions beyond." Just now, however,
a serious reaction is in progress. Much of the old spirit
is returning, including jealousy of foreigners, and dislike
of western ideas, and ways. There is danger that liberty
will lapse into license. The government is still a
despotism. The old pagan faiths are by no means dead,
and their priests are rallying in their defence. But the
prime fact is this : What are 40,000 by the side of 40,-
000,000 of the unevangelized ? We may call one in a
thousand Christian indeed. Perhaps five in a thousand
have barely heard of what occurred in Bethlehem and
on Calvary. And hence in the Sunrise Kingdom, too,
there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

In our rapid review, crossing this hugest of continents,
we glance next at the realms of Islam. According to
the best estimates the prophet of Arabia has not less
than 200,000,000 followers. Of these upwards of 50,-
000,000 are found in India, as many more in northern
and central Africa, 30,000,000 in China, 15,000,000 in
che Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago, 28,-
000,000 in the Turkish Empire Arabia included, and
9,000,000 in Persia. This one-seventh of the earth's
population represents one of the most arduous and dis-
heartening tasks connected with the universal diffusion
of the Gospel. And towards its accomplishment hitherto
no progress whatever has been made. At least with
these two exceptions. A few scores, or hundreds, of
converts have been gained from this obdurate class in

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED. 41 1

northern India, and a few thousands in the Dutch
East Indies, while the Bible has been translated and
quite widely circulated in Arabic, the sacred language
of the entire Moslem world, and because in it the Koran
was written. In European Turkey, and Asia Minor, and
eastward to the Euphrates, for sixty years a noble com-
pany of consecrated men and women have been toiling
along evangelistic, educational, and literary lines, and
have wrought a most surprising revolution. In Syria, to
the north and south of Beirut, and upon the flanks of
Lebanon, a similar work has been done, and with re-
sults equally excellent. In Palestine a number of so-
cieties of various sorts have long been occupied. Con-
siderable progress has been made in the northwestern
portion of Persia, while in the central portions the
foundations have been laid. On the outskirts of
Arabia, to the east, and the south, and the west,
Christendom is actually represented by seven Europeans
and Americans, and four natives. Only so many to care
for 1,000,000 square miles, and 10,000,000 souls. But
though at work in Mohammedan realms, alas none of
these, or next to none, are devoting themselves to the
redemption of Mohammedans. The nearly 40,000,000
are passed by. The calls of mercy are not addressed to
their ears. Everywhere is found Moslem hate and con-
tempt for all other religions, with perfect satisfaction
concerning their own spiritual case. In Arabia the
people are said to be fairly approachable, and the Shah
of Persia is counted a liberal-minded ruler, allowing
some measures of freedom, even in religion. The death
penalty for apostasy is abolished in Turkey, but not-
withstanding, whoso forsakes Mohammed for Christ
takes his life in his hand, and is far more likely to die

4.12 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

than to live. In Afghanistan Christian missions are not
allowed. So that practically, there are no missions to
Mohammedans, and from Thibet, in Central Asia, to
the Mediterranean and the Balkans, the beginnings of
the Gospel among the dominant races are still to be
made. What believing and ardent soul does not cry,
O Lord, how long ? And who can deny that, as touch-
ing this more than one-eight of the family of man, there
remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

Continuing our survey, and entering Africa, we light
upon a dark continent indeed. There is no occasion to
forget the marvels of exploration and occupation, which
have come to pass since Livingstone died in 1873.
These are sufficiently suggested by the notable achieve-
ments of Stanley, the creation of the Congo Free State,
the opening of missions by the score in the Congo
Basin, and about the great African lakes, and the set-
ting up of " protectorates," and *' spheres of influence *'
by the leading governments of Europe. And even the
terrible slave trade is about to die the death. But
nevertheless, what has Christendom done towards ban-
ishing the grossest heathenism and savagery from those
5,000 miles by 5,000, or those more than 160,000,000
souls? The first missionaries in modern times to enter
this boundless realm of degradation and sin landed at
the Cape more than one hundred and fifty years ago,
and the London Society sent Vanderkemp thither in
1799. And to-day the American United Presbyterians
hold a line of flourishing stations in the Nile Valley, ex-
tending from Alexandria far south to the Cataracts, but
almost wholly for the benefit of the Copts (Christian in
name already). The North Africa Society sustains a
body of men and women in the four other states border-

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED. 413

ing upon the Mediterranean. Dotting the West Coast,
from Sierra Leone to the mouth of the Niger, and on
the banks of that river, several scores of heroic toilers
are wearing out their lives for the love of the Lord
Jesus and of perishing souls. Within only fifteen years
another long line of stations has been established on the
lower and upper waters of the Congo. Yet further down
the coast the American Board has occupied three cen-
ters back from Benguela, and on the table-lands, while
back of these Mr. Arnot holds other strategic points
along the road to Garenganze. South Africa is a field
fairly well tilled. So extensive and mature is the work
of the Gospel, and so large is the immigration of Euro-
^^eans, that the region may not improperly be termed
evangelized, if not also Christianized. The Wesleyans
alone have upwards of 32,000 converted natives organ-
ked into a conference. Upon the east coast, lying be-
tween Zululand and the mouth of the Zambesi, other
companies of preachers and teachers are witnessing for
the Master, and ministering to the needy in His name.
The Paris Society through its representatives has pene-
trated to the Barotse, inhabiting the region of the upper
Zambesi. In like manner groups of missionaries are to
be found building for the kingdom to the north and
south of Zanzibar, and about the shores of Nyassa,
Tanganyika, and Victoria Nyanza. Uganda is already
famous among missions. But everywhere in East Central
Africa the work is still in the period of feeble infancy.
Advancing towards our starting point, and passing
through Abyssinia, and along the Red Sea, not a herald
of glad tidings can we discover. The great Soudan re-
mains, so vast and so densely peopled, stretching nearly
across the continent^ and containing about op^-third of

414 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

its population, largely Mobammedanized but without an
evangelist or a follower of Jesus. Two or three Soudan
missions have recently been organized, two or three com-
panies are pushing in that direction, from the West
Coast and northward from the upper Congo, and that is
all. As for Africa as a whole this is the situation. The
northern and central portions, including much more than
half of the area, and approaching to half of the inhabitants
Moslem, and the remainder in a pagan estate most woful,
and horrible in the extreme. Scarcely one in a thousand
has tasted of saving grace, scarcely one in a hundred
has ever heard the saving Name pronounced. Then
there can be no doubt, that between Cape Blanco and
the Cape of Good Hope very much land remaineth to
be possessed.

Nor shall we find the Islands of the Sea in a much
better case. In this portion of the world-field some of
the most remarkable of the conquests of the cross have
been made. Entire peoples have been lifted up from
the lowest depths of barbarism and beastliness to
decency and an orderly life, to a fair degree of intelli-
gence, to character and life truly Christian, so that by
the ten thousand they have honored their profession of
godliness. Let these names stand for the incredible
story. The Society and Hawaiian Islands. Fiji in-
habited by devils incarnate, creatures given to canni-
balism, and all nameless vices. New Zealand as bad,
and the New Hebrides as terrible as any. But now so
marvellously transformed as to send of their own num-
ber to tell to other brutal islanders of the divine love
which brought salvation to their own souls. Glory to
God for what the Gospel has wrought. But yet, the
bulk of these are only children in spiritual estate, and

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED. 415

perhaps for generations to come must needs be nur-
tured and instructed. Ceylon is well advanced on the
road to evangelization. The Dutch East Indies have re-
ceived the truth from various Netherlands' and German
societies, to such a degree that a large district of Celebes
is no longer heathen or Moslem; in various other
regions are found missions which enjoy such measures
of prosperity that the converts are counted by tens and
scores of thousands. The head-taking Dyaks of Borneo
have learned to esteem human life sacred. But for all
this, it is true that in the entire Archipelago (Malaysia)
there are only 300,000 nominal Christians, and in Java
which holds 24,000,000 of the 31,000,000, not much of
anything has been accomplished. Madagascar ranks
next to Japan, perhaps, among missions for the wonder-
ful workings of the Spirit of God. Scarcely another
organization has been able to record successes to match
those vouchsafed to the London Society among the Mal-
agasy. Upon no other body of new converts ever be-
fell so relentless and protracted a persecution as tried
the souls of these. And when the dreadful stress was
over, seldom if ever was seen such a wholesale turning
to the Lord. In the churches of the three missions
70,000 members are found, while the adherents number
350,000 with 35,000 Catholics in addition. For the
other side, we are bound to take note that the Chris-
tians are confined almost wholly to a single tribe, the
Hovas, and that of the entire population nearly five-
sixths remain in their original darkness. Therefore, not
only in Asia, and Africa, but in the Islands of the Sea
as well, there remaineth yet very much land to be pos-
sessed.

Turning next to countries nominally Christian, but

41 6 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

under the rule of the Papacy, what do we find ? And
first in the Spanish American states, which extend from
southern California to the Straits of Magellan. The
population approximates to 50,000,000, and is composed
of Spanish, Portuguese, and Indians, and the blood of
these joined in every degree of mixture. Many of the
aborigines are still in rank paganism, and over all the
residue the Roman Church has borne absolute sway for
centuries. The common grade of morals and religion
is low indeed, even for Catholic countries. In most of
the states religious freedom is accorded by law, with
Catholicism established as the ruling faith. In two or
three of the republics Protestants are forbidden to teach
or worship publicly, while in Equador, with intolerance
worse than that of China, Korea, or Turkey, and equalled
only by Thibet, to be a Protestant and to make it
known, is to be a malefactor worthy of fines and im-
prisonment, or of expulsion. From Mexico to Pata-
gonia, some 50,000 Protestant church members are
found, with twice or thrice as many adherents, or in
proportion to the population, one in 500 of the latter,
and one in 1,500 of the former. In Spanish America,
too, there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
A closing word concerning Papal Europe, including
France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Belgium, a large
part of Germany, etc. No apology is required for zeal-
ous attempts to evangelize and educate the masses so
ignorant and priest-ridden. For these 150,000,000 not
much has been even undertaken, though Italy since 1870
has received considerable attention. The churches are
not toiling, but only playing at missions in behalf of
Catholics. Or, grouping with the Papacy the Greek
Church, which at so many points bears to it so great a

THE LAND WHICH REMAINS TO BE POSSESSED. 417

resemblance, is in despotic control from St. Peters-
burg and the Adriatic, across two continents, to Bering
Sea, and is shaping the destinies of some 75,000,000,
the situation is even worse. For the Czar fa^ outdoes
the Sultan in determination to allow no dissent from the
orthodox faith. The bulk of Europe, and the whole of
northern Asia, are yet to be leavened by a pure Gospel.
Again the divine word to Joshua applies : There re-
maineth yet very much land to be possessed.

To state in a single paragraph the conclusion of the
whole momentous matter : One hundred years after
Carey made his sublime venture, Christendom is repre-
sented in Heathendom by about 11,450 Europeans and
Americans of both sexes. Of these about 4,300 are or-
dained, something less than 1,000 are unordained, 3,650
are wives, and 2,575 are unmarried women. With them
are associated 4,200 ordained and 43,000 unordained
natives toiling as pastors, evangelists, teachers, etc. The
entire missionary force numbers not far from 55,000.
These messengers of the churches are sustained at an
annual cost of more than ^15,000,000. As a part of
the ingathering, the mission churches contain not far
from 1,000,000 members, and the mission schools as
many pupils, while the adherents may reasonably be
reckoned at a figure three or even four times as large.
So many have turned their backs on idolatry, and have
turned their faces towards the kingdom of God and its
righteousness. And all things considered, a most won-
derful achievement to be made in a ;;ingle century. To
God be all the glory, and to his faithful children a ten-
fold increase of courage, ardor, and holy zeal, of prayer,
giving and consecrated toil. For over against those
totals standing for what has been accomplished, must be

4l8 A HUNDRED YEARS OF MISSIONS.

set these overwhelming figures : 800,000,000 heathen,
200,000,000 Mohammedans, and 225,000,000 adherents
of the Greek Church and the Church of Rome. To
make the statement complete it would be necessary to
add the many in Protestant churches who have but a
name to live in Christ, and the multitude outside of the
indifferent, the skeptical, the godless and the abandoned.
All that innumerable company of the unevangelized
are included in the Great Commission, in the last com-
mand of the risen Lord. Nothing less than putting
forth the utmost of effort to compass this stupendous
achievement will fill the measure of obligation, of priv-
ilege. A task so solemn, so sublime in the wise and lov-
ing providence of God is laid upon the shoulders of
Protestant Christendom. This is its mission, its heavenly
calling. Who is sufficient for these things ? It is the
Jittle David going out against the giant ; a handful mak-
ing assault upon a host. The force is ridiculously im-
potent if standing alone, but is abundantly able, wholly
adequate with the Great Captain to devise and lead, to
inspire and supplement. What more is needed to beget
the full assurance of faith : Go ye into all the world ;
Lo I am with you all the days ; Every knee shall bow,
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord ;
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms
of our Lord, and He shall reign forever and forever

THE END.

INDEX.

Abyssinia, Conversion of, 19; Krapf a missionary to, 227, 233.

Africa, Missions in, chapter on, 187-238 ; physical features of, 187 ;
population, 190; races, 191 ; religions, 192; slavery in, 193,
213; rum, 193; discovery and exploration of, 194-9; partition
of, 199; steamers, railroads, etc. in, 200 ; early Christianity in,
202 ; summary of results, 236.

Africa, East Central, 226; Church Missionary Society in, 227,
229 ; United Methodist Free Churches, 227 ; Universities' Mis-
sion, 228 ; Scottish Established Church and Free Church, 230 ;
Berlin, London and Paris Societies, and Moravians, 231.

Africa, North, 232; first missions in, 233; United Presbyterian
Church, 234; North Africa Society, 235.

Africa, South, 204 ; first mission to, 205 ; London Society, 207 ;
English Wesleyans, 208 ; Paris Society, 209 ; German societies,
210; American Board, 210; Scottish missions, 211; summary
of results, 213.

Africa, West, 213; mission to, proposed, 99; Moravians in, 214;
Church Missionary Society, 214; Wesleyan, 216; American
Baptist and Presbyterian, 217 ; Basle Society and American
Methodist, 218; United Brethren, Episcopalian and United
Presbyterian of Scotland, 219; North German, and American
Lutheran (General Synod), 220; Southern Baptist Convention,
221,

Africa, West Central, 222; English and American Baptists in,
224-5 > Swedish Societies, 225 ; Congo Balolo Mission and Ar-
not's, 225.

Alaska, Missions in, 401.

America, Central, section on, 380-2.

America, Discovery of, effect of upon missions, 32, 34.

American Board. Causes which led to the founding of, 100-107 ;
sends missionaries to India, no, to Ceylon and the Cherokees,

419

420 INDEX.

Ii6, 390; Sandwich Islands and Palestine, 1 17; South Africa,
210; Sumatra, 272; Borneo, 273; the Armenians, 286, 289;
Nestorians, 287, 299; European Turkey, 302; China, 320; Ja-
pan, 357 ; Mexico, 3S6.

ANGLO-SAXoXb, Conversion of, 21 ; significance of, 34, 68; the
missionary race, 130.

Ansgar, Missionary to Scandinavia, 24.

Arabic Bible, Value of, 297.

Armenia, Conversion of, 19.

Argentine Republic, The, Missions in, 377.

Ars Alagna, Raymond Lully's, 30.

Baptist, American, Missionary Union, founded, loi, 112, 120;
change of name, 122; adopts Judson and Rice, 122; mission of,
in Burmah, 170; among the Telugus, 176; in West Africa,
217 ; Congo Free State, 224.

Baptist Missionary Society, English, organized, 76; enters In-
dia, 79, 163; West Africa, 214; Congo Basin, 224; West Indies,
279.

Baptists, Free, organize for missionary work, 125, enter India, 179.

Baptist Southern Convention, organizes for missionary work
125; in Brazil, 376; Indians, 394,

Basle Missionary Society, organized, 96; enters India, 178;
West Africa, 218.

Beirut becomes a mission station, 285, 295 ; importance of, as, 297.

Berlin Missionary Society, organized, 96; enters Burmah, 172;
South Africa, 210 ; East Africa, 231.

Bible Society, American, organized, 104; number of copies of the
Scriptures printed by, 137 ; value of work of in Spanish Amer-
ica, 378, 379, 380, 388.

Bible Society, British and Foreign, organized, 96 ; number oi
versions printed by, 137 ; of copies, 137.

Boers, The Dutch, 205, 207.

Bogue, Dr. David, part of in organizing the London Missionary
Society, 83-5.

Bolivia, Missions in, 378.

Bombay, founded, 59, 151 ; first mission in, 114.

Boniface, The apostle of Germany, 23.

INDEX. 421

Boyle, Robert, gift of for missions, 61.

Brainerd, David, 66, 67, 99, 137.

Brazil, Missions in, 54, 375.

Buchanan, Claudius, " Star in the East by," effect of, 103, 106,

158, 168.
Burmah, Missions in, 112, 121, 123.

Calvin, sends missionaries to Brazil, 54, 375.

Canada, Jesuit missions in, 37 ; Protestant missions to the Indians

of. 395-401.

Cannibalism, in Figi, 258; New Zealand, 263; the New Hebri-
des, 266.

Carey, William, Early career of, 71 ; missionary treatise of, 74, 76,
81; sermon of, 75; sails for India, 78; impulse given to mis-
sions in the United States by, 100, 121 ; work in India, 163.

Carey Epoch, The, in missions, why properly so called, 70.

Caste, in India, the evils of, 149.

Ceylon, Dutch missions in, 57-8; Newell arrives in, 115; rein-
forcements sent to, 116; English Church enters, 168; Dr. Coke
sails for, 173.

Chili, Missions in, 378.

China, Chapter on missions in, 307-32 ; physical features of, 307 ;
people, 307 ; languages, 308 ; religions, 309 ; Nestorian missions
in, 26, 309, 310; Roman Catholic missions, 38, 310; why closed
against foreigners, 311 ; Morrison the first missionary to, 312;
Milne, 315; early methods of work, 316-20; opium war, 321;
later wars, 324 ; enlargement of missions, 323-327 ; medical
mission in, 318, 330; summary of results, 331.

China Inland Mission, The work of, 328.

Church Missionary Society, Organization of, 95 ; enters India,
167; Ceylon, 168; West Africa, 214; East Africa, 227, 229;
North Africa, 233 ; New Zealand, 263 ; West Indies, 278 ; Persia,
302 ; Canada, 395 ; British Columbia, 397.

Church and State, Union of, evil effects of, 20, 45, 54.

Clough, Rev. J. E., Work of among the Telugus, 176.

Clovis, Conversion of, 22.

Coke, Dr., founds a mission in Antigua, 82, 278; sails for Ceylon
and dies, 173.

422 INDEX.

CoLIGNY, Admiral, founds a mission in Brazil, 54, 375.

Colombia, Missions in, 379.

CoLUMBA, founds a monastery in lona, 22.

CoLUMBAN, The apostle of Gaul, 23.

Cook, Captain, voyages of, effect of upon missions, 49, 72, 249^

260.
Cornwall, Conn., Mission school in, 104, 117.
Crowther, Bishop Samuel, 215.
Crusades, Value of as a missionary agency, 28.
Cyril and Methodius, apostles of the Slavs, 24.

Danish Missions, 47, 58; at Tranquebar, 63, 156, 179; in Green-
land, 64.

Darwin, Charles, testimony of to missions, 259, 375.

Democracy, Value of to missions, 46.

Discovery of America, Effect of, upon missions, 32, 34.

Duff, The, sails for the South Seas, 88 ; captured by the French,
94.

Duff, Alexander, 73.

DuFFERiN, The Countess of, organization of medical work by, 181.

Duncan, William, Work of at Metlakahtla, 138, 397-401.

Dutch, Missions of, in the East Indies, 56-8, 274, 275 ; West In-
dies, 58.

Dyaks, Head-taking, of Borneo, 273.

East India Co., Charter of given, 59 ; opposition of to missions,

112-115, 134, 158; dissolved, i6l.
East Indies, Missions in, 270-5.
Ecuador, Missions in, 380.
Edinburgh Missionary Society organized, 86; sends two men

to the Foulahs, 89.
Education and Missions, 138.
Edwards, Jonathan, pamphlet of on missions, 73; missionary

work, and life of Brainerd, 99.
Egede, Hans, missionary to Greenland, 64.
Egypt, Modern missions in, 234.
Eighteenth Century, The, missions of; Danish-Halle, 63; to

American Indians, 63; Moravian, 65.

INDEX. 423

Eliot, John, first missionary to the Indians, 61, 99.

England, Conversion of, 21.

Erasmus, Missionary treatise of, 53.

Europe, Missionary beginnings in, 15; Western, 15, 21 ; Central,

23; Northern, 24; Eastern, 24.
Expansion, Missionary, the phenomenon of, chapter on, 126-41 ;

described, 127-8; causes which co-operated to produce, 130.

Fiji, Evangehzation of, 257.

FiSK and Parsons, the first missionaries to Palestine, I18, 285.

Francke, Connection of with missions in the Eighteenth century,

63.
Free Church, of Scotland, enters India, 173; South Africa, 211 ;

East Africa, 230 ; Jewish mission in Turkey, 288.
Frederick IV. of Denmark, Mission founded by, in Tranquebar,

63 ; in Greenland, 64.
Friendly Islands, Evangelization of, 256.
Frumentius, Apostle of Abyssinia, 19.
Yuller, Andrew, visits Carey, 73; counsels American Baptists,

122.

Gardiner, Capt. Allen, career of, 372, et seq.
Geddie, Rev. John, missionary in the New Hebrides, 267.
Genesis of Missions in America, Chapter on, 97-125.
Glasgow Missionary Society, organized, 86 ; sends two men to

the Foulahs, 89.
GooDELL, Rev. Wm., opens a mission in Constantinople, 286, 289.
Gordon, Rev. G. N., killed in the New Hebrides, 269.
Gordon, Rev. J. S., killed in the New Hebrides, 269.
Gossner's Missionary Society, Work of among the Kols, 169,

178.
Goths, The Conversion of, 19.
GUTZLAFF, Work of in China, 317, 318, 319.

Haldane, Robert, Mission to Bengal planned by, 86.

Hall, Gordon, Evangelizing zeal of, 106; sails for India, lio;

reaches Bombay, 1 14.
Hamlin, Rev. Cyrus, enters the Turkish Mission, 289; founds

Robert College, 294.

424 INDEX.

Hasseltine, Ann (Mrs. Judson), Heroism of, 17 1.
Hawaiian Islands, Evangelization of, 117, 260.
Haweis, Dr., Zeal of for missions, 84, 91, 102.
Hervey Islands, Evangelization of, 253.
Hopkins, Rev. Samuel, proposes a mission to Africa, 99
Horne, Melville, Letters on missions by, 103.

India, Physical features of, 143; population, 144; religious prac-
tices, 147; caste, 149; history, 150; British rule, 152-4, 180,
185; public works, 154; native states, 154; beginnings of the
Gospel, 19; advent of Carey, 157, 163; effect of the Mutiny,
1 60- 1 ; missions of the Church Society, 167 ; American Board,
no, 169; American Baptists, 170, 176; Wesleyans, 173; Church
of Scotland, 173; Presbyterians, 175; woman's work, 180; med-
ical missions, 180; summary of results, 163, 182.

Indians, American, Chapter on, 389-402 ; early missions to, Eliot
and the Mayhe ws, 6 1 ; Edwards and Brainerd, 67 ; Zeisberger,
67, 82; the American Board, 116.

Industrial Missions, Value of, 138.

Inglis, Rev. John, missionary in the New Hebrides, 267.

Ireland, Conversion of, 22.

Islands of the Sea, Chapter on, 247-280,

Japan, Chapter on, 239-264; physical features of, 339; people,
340; religions, 341 ; history, 342; Roman Catholic missions in,
343 ; closed against foreigners, 346 ; Commodore Perry's expe-
dition to, 347 ; first Protestant missionaries in, 350 ; political
revolution, 35 1; open to the Gospel, 356; summary of results,
361.

Java, Mission work in, 271.

Jesuit Missions, in Canada, 37 ; in India, 38 ; in Paraguay, 368.

Jewett, Dr., missionary to the Telugus, 176.

Judson, Adoniram, at Andover, 106; sent to London, 108; sails
for India, no; is immersed, 112; enters Burmah, 123, 170.

Kathdiwar, first of native states to be entered by missionaries,

!6o.
Kiernander, missionary in Calcutta, 82, 157, 158.

INDEX.

425

King, Rev. Jonas, a missionary in Greece, 288.

Korea, the country and people, 232-3 ; Roman Catholic missions

in, 333; Protestant missions, 335.
Krapf, John Ludvvig, missionary in East Africa, 197, 198, 222,

227, 228.

Leipsic Missionary Society, in India, 179.

Livingstone, David, 196, 208, 228, 230.

London Missionary Society, The organization of, 83-5 ; opens
missions in the South Seas, 87 ; in South Africa, 92, 207 ; India,
167 ; East Africa, 231 ; Madagascar, 241.

Lovedale, 138, 211.

Lutheran Missions, Early, in Tranquebar, 63; in Greenland,
64.

Lutheran Church (General Synod), Missions of, in India, 125,
179; West Africa, 220.

Lutkens, Chaplain to Frederick IV., connection of with Tranque-
bar Mission.

Madagascar, Physical features of, 238; population, 239; begin-
ning of missions in, 241; persecution, 243; great ingathering,

245-
Madras, Missions in, 168, 169, 170, 173, 186.

Malabar Coast, St. Thomas Christians of, 19, 156.

Manchuria, Missions in, 328.

Marsden, Rev. Samuel, Work of for New Zealand, 263, 265.

Martyn, Henry, 158, 168.

Mass Conversions, 140, 167, 177, 178.

Mayhews, The, missionaries to the Indians, 61, 99.

Medical Missions, The value of, 138, 180; in China, 330;

Korea, 336.
Methodist Church, The missions of, origin of, 123; in Africa,

124; in India, 177; in Bulgaria, 302; South America, 376;

Mexico, 387; American Indians, 124, 393.
Methodist Church, South, Missionary organization of, 125;

work of among the Indians, 394 ; Mexico, 387.
Metlakahtla, Mission of Wm. Duncan at, 138, 397.
Mexico, Section on, 382-8.

426 INDEX.

Micronesia, Evangelization of, began, 262.

Mills, Samuel J,, 104; befriends Obookiah, 117.

Milne, Dr., arrives in China, 315 ; to Malacca, 316.

Missions, Christian idea of, 5; Christ's teaching concerning, 10;

Holy Ghost and, 14.
Missions in America, Genesis of, chapter on, 97-125.
Missionary Expansion, The phenomenon of, chapter on, 126-

141.
Missions, Home, in the United States, magnitude of, 98.
Missions, Medieval, Methods employed in, 23-5.
Missions, Protestant, The beginning of, why so long delayed, 40 ;

zeal was anti-Catholic, 43 ; Church and State were united, 45 ;

the people had no power, 46 ; no contact with the heathen world,

47-
Missions, Roman Catholic, Origin of, 36; features of, 37; Xavier,

37; Jesuits in Canada and India, 38, 163; China, 310; Korea,

334; Japan, 343; failure of, 38; in Japan, 343.
Moffat, Robert, 196, 207.
Mohammedanism, The rise of, 26 ; spread, 26, 27 j crusades

against, 28; Lully's mission to, 29; restrained by Christian

powers, 135, 410, €t seq.
Mongolia, Missions in, 328.
Moravian Missions, 65 ; in South Africa, 205 ; West Africa,

214; East Africa, 231; West Indies, 276; Dutch Guiana, 370;

among the Indians, 389.
Morrison, Rev. Robert, first missionary to China, 312; translates

the Bible, 314; patient waiting of, 320.
Mutiny, The Indian, Effect of on missions, 160, 161.

Neesima, Joseph, 352, 359.

Nepean, Gov. Evan, orders Hall and Nott to depart from Bom-
bay, 114; allows them to remain, 115.

Nestorians, Early missionary activity of, 25, 28, 310; mission to,
287, 299.

Netherlands Missionary Society, organized, 90 ; in the East
Indies, 274,

Newell, Rev. Samuel, in Andover, 106; sails for India, 1 10 ; to
Ceylon.. 115; to Bombay, 115.

INDEX. 427

Newell, Mrs. Harriet, dies, 1 14 ; worth of brief career of, 1 15,

137-

New Guinea, Introduction of the Gospel into, 270.

New Hebrides, Evangelization of, 266-70.

New Zealand, Work of the Gospel in, 263-6.

NoBiLi, Robert de. Imposture of, 38.

North Africa Missionary Society, The work of, 235.

North German Missionary Society, Mission of in West Africa,

220.
Nott, Rev. Samuel, in Andover, 106; sails for India, no; early

experiences in Bombay, 1 14.

Obookiah, 117, 260.

Obligation, Missionary, rests on all alike, 6, 9 ; as Moravians
hold, 7; as Carey felt, 8; and the early church, lo, 12, 16.

Palestine, Mission of the American Board to, 117, 285, 287; of
other societies, 298.

Paraguay, Jesuit missions in, 368.

Paris Missionary Society, organized, 96 ; enters South Africa,
209; the Zambezi valley, 231.

Park, Mungo, Exploration of the Niger by, 195.

Parker, Dr. Peter, the founder of medical missions in China, 319.

Parsons and Fisk, the first missionaries to Palestine, 118, 285.

Patteson, Bishop, killed in the Santa Cruz Islands, 269.

Patrick, St., Missionary zeal of, 22.

Perkins, Rev. Justin, carries the Gospel to the Nestorians, 300 ;
translates the Bible into Syriac, 301.

Persia, Mission to, founded by the American Board, 300 ; English
Church Missionary enters, 301.

Peru, Missions in, 379.

Plassey, Battle of, effect of upon missions, 48, 67, 153.

Plutscho, missionary to Tranquebar, 63.

Presbyterian Church, The, joins in the work of the American
Board, 119; withdraws for separate work, 119; enters India,
175; West Africa, 217; Syria, 298; Persia, 301 ; Brazil, 376;
Central America, 382; Mexico, 386; among the Indians, 394.

Presbyterian Church, South, Missions of, in Brazil, 376; Mex-
ico, 386.

428 INDEX.

Presbyterian Church of Canada, Missions of, in the New

Hebrides, 269 ; West Indies, 279.
Presbyterian Church, Reformed, American, Mission of in

Syria, 299.
Protestant Missions, Chapter on, 40-52.
Propagation of the Gospel, Society for, charter of, 66 ; enters

India, 168; Burmah, 172; South Africa, 212; Borneo, 274;

West Indies, 278; Korea, 337.
Protestant Episcopal Church, organized for missions, 125 ; in

Greece, 125; China, 125; West Africa, 219; Indians, 394.

Quebec, Capture of, effect of on missions, 48, 67.

Rankin, Miss Melinda, Work of in Mexico, 385.

Reformation, The, effect of upon missions, 32-4.

Reformed (Dutch) Church, co-operates with the American

Board, 120; mission in India, 179.
Reformers, The, why lacking in missionary zeal, 41-52.
Revivals, Stimulus from to missions, 49, 68, 141.
Rhenish Missionary Society, Missions of, in South Africa, 210;

East Indies, 271, 272, 275.
Rice, Rev. Luther, 109; sails for India, iio; is immersed, 112,

120; returns, 122.
Roman Empire, Conversion of, 15 ; forces which aided in, 16.
Russia, Conversion of, 24.

Samoa, Evangelization of, 255.

Sandwich Islands, Evangelization of, 117, 260.

Saxons, The, Conversion of, 23.

Scandinavia, The conversion of, 24.

Schwartz, Christian Frederick, 64, 82, 156, 158.

Scotland, The conversion of, 22.

Scotland, The Established Church of, missions of, in India, 173-
4; East Africa, 230.

Scotland, Free Church of, missions of, in India, 173; South Af-
rica, 211 ; East Africa, 230; Jews in Turkey, 288.

Selwyn, Bishop, Work of in New Zealand, 264, 269.

Serampore, Founding of, 59; Carey removes to, 165; the broth-
erhood of, 166,

INDEX. 429

Seventeenth Century, The Protestant missions of, 54.

Shaw, Barnabas, 208.

Sierra Leone, 67, 195 ; missions in, 215, et seq.

Sixteenth Century, The Protestant missions of, 53, 62.

Slave Trade, 187, 192, 213, 275.

Slavs, The, Conversion of, 24,

Smith, Rev. Eli, Translation of the Bible into Arabic by, 297.

Society Islands, The evangelization of, 250; results flowing
from, 253, 260.

South America, Physical features of, 369 ; area, 370 ; Protestant
missions in, 370, et seq.

Spanish America, Chapter on, 365-380 ; area and population of,
365 ; conquest of, 366 ; Roman Catholic missions in, 367 ; Prot-
estant missions in, 370, et seq.

Stiles, Rev. Ezra, proposes a mission to Africa, 99.

Sumatra, Missions in, 272.

Syrian Mission, Founding of, 285, 295 ; results of, 298.

Tahiti, Evangelization of, 87, 91, 250.

Taylor,- Rev. J. Hudson, China Inland Mission founded by, 327.

Telugu Mission, Baptist, 121, 176.

Thomas, Dr. John, meets Carey, 77 ; sails for India, 79 ; later

career of, 157, 163, 165.
Tranquebar, Founding of, 59 ; the mission in, 63, 156, 179.
Turkish Empire, The, Chapter on, 281-306.

Ulphilas, apostle of the Goths, 19.

United Brethren, Mission of in West Africa, 219.

United Presbyterian Church, American, Missions of, in India,

179; in Egypt, 234.
United Presbyterian Church, Scottish, Missions of, in India,

179; South Africa, 212 j West Africa, 219; West Indies, 279.
Universities' Mission to Central Africa, 228.

Vanderkemp, 90 ; sails for Africa, 92 ; missionary zeal o^ 94,

207, 241.
Van Dyck, Dr., Translation of the Bible into Arabic by, 297.
Venezuela, Missions in, 379.
Vladimir, King, The conversion of, 24.

430 INDEX.

Warneck, Dr., Estimate of Zinzendorf by, 66; on mass conver
sions, 140.

Welz, Von, Missionary zeal of, 62.

Wesleyan Revival, The, Effect of on missions, 49-50, 68.

Wesleyan Missionary Society, Organization of, 96 ; enters In-
dia, 172; Burmah, 172; South Africa, 208, 213; West Africa,
216; Friendly Islands, 256; Fiji, 257; New Zealand, 265;
West Indies, 277.

West Indies, Missions in, 275-80.

Whitman, Dr. Marcus, Career of as missionary in Oregon, 392.

Williams, John, Work of, in the Society Islands, 253 ; Hervey
Group, 254 ; Samoa, 255 ; New Hebrides, 266.

Williams, S. Wells, missionary in China, 320, 325.

Wilson, Captain, sails in the Duff^ 88; returns, 91.

Woman's Part in Missions, Early ideas of, iii; importance of,
138; work in India, 180-2.

Xavier, St. Francis, 37 ; in Japan, 343.

Zenana Work, 180.

Zeisberger, David, Work of, among the Indians, 67, 82, 389,

Ziegenbalg, Founding of Tranquebar mission by, 63.

DATE DUE

GAVLORO

► RINT EO IN u. S.» .

266.09

L552h.